I’m shocked! Shocked, I tells ya! Once again, the B.C. Liberals totally rejected my unsolicited strategic advice, in this case, to stick with their party name at least through the next provincial election for so many reasons that I articulated in my previous two articles on the subject.

OK, so the vote on the resolution at the party convention in Penticton this past Saturday pretty much went as everyone, including me, always expected. If anything, it passed with even greater support than probably even Kevin Falcon anticipated in his wildest dreams, doubling as a resounding and well-deserved endorsement of his new leadership thus far.

The delegates overwhelming approved his initiative to rebrand their party with a new name that Falcon hopes will be less alienating to ardent conservatives who want no truck or trade with the B.C. Liberals’ ostensible namesake ideology.

One that he also contends will be less confusing to anyone who might mistakenly believe that the B.C. Liberals are even at all “liberals”.

Least of all in the capital-L sense of the distinctly separate federal Liberal party that proudly embraces its moniker as a not-too-misleading voter guide to its more progressive brand of centre-right governance.

A more purple partisan alternative: that’s the project, by any other name.

One that more accurately reflects the coalition’s largely anti-Liberal membership, now dominated by conservative blue, barely tinted by liberal red.  

Better dead than red, that Liberal party, Falcon’s fans, caucus colleagues, and mostly rural members virtually all agree, fundamentally failing to comprehend the reason for its electoral demise under Christy Clark and Andrew Wilkinson’s leadership.

Any connection to Justin Trudeau’s sullied Liberal brand is radioactive in rural B.C., they argue, notwithstanding the fact that the B.C. Liberals’ still hold nearly all of the seats beyond Hope.

Meanwhile their party’s support all but evaporated in Metro Vancouver and on the Island, as voters abandoned the B.C. Liberals in droves for the NDP and B.C. Greens, while the federal Liberals continued to succeed in Metro Vancouver.

Which is to say, anyone with half a brain understands that the B.C. Liberals’ big problem in the seat-rich areas they need to win to form government is not their party L-word.

Rather, it’s that that party brand and brand promise in government and under its last two Liberal leaders especially was not at all consistent with the brand experience that so many liberal supporters wanted and voted for.

Those voters didn’t punish the B.C. Liberals because of their professed namesake ideology, but rather, because they had increasingly rebranded themselves in government and in opposition as intolerant regressive conservatives—too far-right; too old, male and white; and too insensitive and unresponsive to almost everyone but their wealthy friends, corporate donors, developers, and resource-extraction industries.

No matter. Onward and upward to a brave new, decidedly non-Liberal world, the party faithful hope.

Whether you’re a party member or not, the B.C. Liberals want to hear from you in advancing its name change consultation.

Remember, as I noted in my last piece, the Election Act precludes using any new party names that are the same and substantially similar to any that were on a ballot in the past 10 years or are currently registered by parties.

That takes the B.C. Party or anything with the word “Conservative” off the table, as it will also legally prevent any future party from using the Liberal label for at least the next decade if and when the B.C. Liberals formally complete their name change process.

If you’re a Conservative, you’re in luck. You’ll still be able to vote for that party, which will likely continue to run candidates as well.

Especially with the B.C. Liberals so graciously dumping their label, which as I pointed out in my first article on this issue, was easily the most politically successful and enduring in B.C. history, forming more governments than any other party.

Anyway, here’s how I would fill out the B.C. Liberals’ name-game consultation form, which I’ve decided to instead submit here for your amusement.

Join the party!

Not literally, perhaps, but maybe on social media to let Kevin Falcon know what you really think—and perhaps also, to suggest any legitimate new party names that you might want to be first to articulate, if only to assure they’ll never be embraced and accredited as your idea!

First name: Martyn

Last name: Brown

Email: bcpundit@gmail.com

Postal code: (Sorry, don’t want your fundraising junk mail, or share my constituency)

If the Party was to change its name, what name idea(s) do you suggest?

Well, in homage to your development friends and business supporters, you could call it Develop BC, BC Enterprise, All Business BC, BC Builders’ Anonymous, or simply BC’s Falcon Crest.

Given the only thing that apparently really unites your members is fear and hate of the NDP and the neo-liberal left, you could call it Right Now BC, or maybe Right Rules BC.

Others on Twitter have suggested the NoCred Party, FreeDumb BC, the BC Self-servatives. Guess not.

But if you are really serious in saying “It’s important that our brand and identity reflect the values of the membership of our party”, I suggest you need a new name that better captures your party’s essential duality.

Including its liberal-conservative dichotomy, its rural-urban dynamic, its stated versus its real intentions in respect of issues like climate action, and both versions of Kevin Falcon—the one we knew in government and his kinder, gentler alternative today.

So how about Two-Faced BC?

Please don’t take that in the pejorative sense.

I mean, Webster's defines two-faced as being “two-fold, having two parts or aspects” and “being twice as great or as many.” How would that not be a winning label?

Sure, it also defines that word as “double-dealing”, in the duplicitous sense that is in turn defined by “contradictory doubleness of thought, speech, or action … especially the belying of one’s true intentions by deceptive words or action”.

But hell, isn't it time to take back virtue signalling as a useful construct that proudly reframes your member’s shared commitment to its two-faced reality as a higher aspirational value for all of B.C.?

No? OK. Then maybe just call your party Winning BC and hire Charlie Sheen as your celebrity ambassador.

Do you have any other comments or feedback regarding the Party’s rebranding and name change?

Actually, quite a few. See Related Stories.

Best of luck in that endeavour and my hearty congrats to Kevin Falcon for giving all B.C. voters this opportunity to really right the good ship Liberal that drifted away from his predecessors and got stuck like that tub on Barge Chilling Beach.

Just remember, even though the political tide is surely shifting against the NDP and your party has good cause to celebrate its materially more hopeful state, a rising tide doesn’t in fact necessarily lift all boats.

In the B.C. Liberals’ case, a new name might ultimately help or hinder that enterprise, only time will tell.

But there can be no doubt now that Falcon’s got his hand firmly on the party tiller.

As his successfully floated rebranding effort really gets off the ground, supported by his mainstream media cheerleaders in the B.C. press gallery, the fickle winds of political fate will determine whether it’s clear sailing ahead for his crew.

I’ll be surprised if the name changing gambit isn’t soundly approved by the party membership, whatever stormy waters it might face along the way, which Falcon will be more adept at navigating than the NDP might suppose.

In the final analysis, I still think it’s a strategic mistake fraught with unnecessary risk that stands to distract from the B.C. Liberals’ more urgent and politically productive priorities.

Let the fun and games begin.

For better or worse, the B.C. Liberal label won’t be around much longer to compete with the Conservative label, which itself stands to be bolstered in its own right.

That is, to the extent that Falcon fails in fully uniting the right even under his new party brand, obliged as he will be to prove it is not just a conservative party in drag, but actually more progressive, inclusive and even materially more liberal—especially for the younger, more diverse universe of voters in the urban seats that will determine who forms the next government.