Dennis Giesbrecht was announced as the Kamloops-Centre candidate this spring, but he was sent to the Vernon-Lumby riding this week instead.

(LEVI LANDRY / iNFOnews.ca)

The BC Conservative Party is being criticized for dropping an out-of-town candidate into the Vernon-Lumby riding when it had another well established, local option.

Dennis Giesbrecht has been campaigning alongside fellow Kamloops-area candidate Ward Stamer for months, but now he's being sent to the Vernon-Lumby riding after the party tagged in MLA Peter Milobar, formerly with the BC United Party.

Facing criticism for being "parachuted" into the riding, Giesbrecht, a longtime Kamloops local, said he plans to move to Vernon after the election.

"We've been looking to move here for a long time. I've got roots, I've been here a lot over the years, playing hockey here," he told iNFOnews.ca on Sept. 4. "My significant car crash was actually here a few years back, so I remember Vernon quite well and I look forward to serving."

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Giesbrecht has run in multiple Kamloops-area elections including attempts at city council and on the provincial ballot in 2020 with the BC Conservatives.

He's been meeting with Conservative party volunteers in Vernon and said he has the support of those with the local riding association.

In choosing Giesbrecht, party leader John Rustad snubbed Lumby Mayor and now former BC United candidate, Kevin Acton.

The Conservatives hadn't chosen a candidate for the Vernon-Lumby riding when BC United dropped out of the election campaign last week. Acton informed party staff and Rustad of his interest in taking the open candidacy, even meeting with the Conservative leader in person at the Interior Provincial Exhibition this past weekend.

"I made it exceedingly clear I was not going to allow a parachute candidate to come in and lose the election to the NDP," Acton said.

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It's not clear why the party didn't choose Acton.

"I can't talk about internal HR issues. So what happened, I'm not going to comment on that, but the Conservative brand and the quest for change is so strong in this riding that I'm quite comfortable," Giesbrecht said.

Acton is now running as an independent. He made the announcement on Sept. 3 and said he's been getting plenty of support from locals and receiving donations to his campaign.

"I think it's because I'm doing it for the right reason," he said. "I'm not doing it because my ego says I'm the guy or because I'm angry the party dumped me. I'm doing it because I don't think the parachute candidate being dropped in this riding is going to beat the incumbent NDP candidate."

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He's heard from right-leaning voters who are turned off by the BC Conservative stances on social issues and are now thankful to have an alternative to NDP MLA Harwinder Sandhu.

Former BC Liberal MLA for the North Okanagan riding, Eric Foster, threw his support behind Acton, adding that he was confused by the Conservative's choice in candidates.

"From a political point of view, if you want to win the province, you've got to run the best candidates and the ones that are most likely to be successful in every single riding," Foster said.

"In our riding here, you have someone who's already got a team together, who's been knocking on doors for almost a month-and-a-half, raised a bunch of money and there was nobody to displace here. That's the part that just baffles me."

BC election day is Oct. 19.

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