Teresa Wat, 4th B.C. United MLA defects to B.C. Conservatives

B.C. United Leader Kevin Falcon has lost a fourth member of the legislature to the Conservative Party ofBritishColumbia.

Teresa Wat, who represents Richmond North Centre, says she has joined John Rustad's B.C. Conservatives.

"This was not an easy decision, but one that I have been contemplating for months," she said.

Wat was elected under theB.C. Liberal banner three times beginning in 2013, prior to the party changing its name toB.C. United.

WATCH | Wat defects to Conservatives:

Teresa Wat, 4th B.C. United MLA to defect to B.C. Conservatives

25 days ago

Duration 2:05

The B.C. Conservative Party has poached another MLA from B.C. United. Richmond's Teresa Wat has been officially introduced as the Conservatives' newest member and candidate ahead of the provincial election.

Rustadsaid Richmond is an important riding for his party, and Wat'sdefection puts the community squarely in focus in the lead-up to the October 2024 provincial election.

"It, in many ways, can be a bellwether in terms of provincial politics, so it's going to be a very interesting race," Rustad said.

B.C. United has lost several high-profile candidates and members of the legislature to the provincial Conservatives.

Lorne Doerkson, who represents Cariboo-Chilcotin, left the party to join Rustad in May and Surrey's Elenore Sturko did the same in June.

Last year, Abbotsford South MLA Bruce Banmanjoined Rustad's party after defecting from B.C. United, and the partylost its candidate, Chris Moore, to the Conservatives in June.

Rustadwas, himself, booted out of B.C. United, then known as the Liberals, in 2022 for questioning the science behind climate change and sat as the only Conservative MLA for months before a wave of defections over the last year.

There were talks of a merger deal between B.C. United and the Conservatives, as B.C.'s two right-of-centre partiessought to avoid vote splitting in the upcoming provincial election.

But that deal was rejected in May, with polls showingthe Conservatives witha healthy lead over B.C. United.