VICTORIA — As Peter Milobar becomes the third former B.C. Liberal to enter the B.C. Conservative leadership race, New Democrats are calling on all leadership candidates to clearly reject bringing residential school–denying MLAs back into caucus.

Former B.C. Conservative MLAs Dallas Brodie and Tara Armstrong have repeatedly attacked residential school survivors, including calling on First Nations to physically dig up bodies to prove children were harmed. Former B.C. Conservative staffer Lindsay Shepherd called Orange Shirt Day “the grandest lie of all.”

Former leader John Rustad ultimately ejected Brodie and fired Shepherd.

Milobar spoke out against those comments, including standing in the legislature to denounce them.

Fellow leadership candidate Yuri Fulmer did not rule out bringing those MLAs back into caucus, while Sheldon Clare said it would be “difficult” for them to return.

Milobar is the third prominent ex-B.C. Liberal to enter the race, following former cabinet minister Iain Black and former party staffer, candidate, and vice-president Caroline Elliott.

Clare took aim at all three, saying: “We’re not going to be Liberal Party 2.0. We are the Conservative Party, and we are going to run on a conservative platform.”

Spencer Chandra Herbert, Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation:

“For the last year, Dallas Brodie, Tara Armstrong, and Lindsay Shepherd have attacked Indigenous peoples by denying the experiences of residential school survivors at every opportunity. If John Rustad and Sheldon Clare can draw the line at residential school denial, then Peter Milobar, Iain Black, and Caroline Elliott should too. I hope to hear that commitment from Peter Milobar today, and from the other candidates in the days to come.”