Premier-designate Lorne Doerksen's filter for bigotry caught anti-semitic & racist candidates, yet homophobia gets green light

BC Conservative leader wouldn't answer why he kept anti-LGBTQ Chilliwack North candidate while booting others

November 5, 2026

Political scientists across B.C. will study the last two years – and in particular the last three months – of provincial politics for years to come.

Since 2024, the establishment party that governed for 16 years from 2001 to 2017 shrunk, then renamed, then dissolved into nothingness. 

Since 2024, the party that took over in 2017 went from bemused observers eating popcorn in the bleachers watching the right eat itself to joining the game with an own goal.

And the party that was all but non-existent went from nothing to nearly everything then crumbling from within until suddenly taking full control in Victoria.

You know, the BC Liberals, the BC NDP and the BC Conservatives.

So what’s next? After tearing itself apart from within because members chose an unelectable leader in Kerry-Lynne Findlay and several departures by radical right folks, the BC Conservatives coalesced at the last minute to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat over the New Democrats. With 63 elected MLAs, the Conservatives have 16 more than they need to keep a majority, which is 47 out of the 93 total seats.

Now that the dust has settled, it’s entirely possible that some elected members of the party will do what conservatives often do: accidentally say what they really think. 

Chilliwack North MLA Heather Maahs skated her way across thin ice to be elected on Oct. 17 in a BC Conservative Party without being kicked out by Doerksen or even publicly rebuked for her years of pro-MAGA, anti-LGBTQ comments.

But how long can she survive before enough becomes enough for Doerksen who is leading a party that is no longer chirping from the sidelines in opposition but now has to be the adult in the room and govern?

The dog that chased the car caught up. Now what?

When the party put Doerksen in charge, it was a brilliant move. He is reasonable and affable, at least on the surface nothing like the fringe social conservatives who thought KLF would be a good party leader.

The BC Conservatives have not been around that long as a legitimate party. They existed only on paper before John Rustad joined after being kicked out of the BC Liberals/BC United by Kevin Falcon for a social media post denying climate change, a faux pas that looks quaint in hindsight.

With the success of the 2024 election where they nearly won government, the BC Conservatives made sure they had a candidate in every riding for the election called by David Eby. Clearly some candidates weren’t vetted by the party too well and as happens these days, they were vetted by the public and/or the media.

Nine days before the election, posts by Victoria-Beacon Hill candidate Joachim Agou cheering on a driver ramming into pro-Palestinians and a blatantly racist anti-Pakistani meme got him kicked out of caucus.

Two days before the election, 18-year-old Vancouver-Strathcona candidate Jordan McIntosh was booted from the party for social media posts (from when he was 15) minimizing the Holocaust. 

But before both of those removals on Oct. 15 and Oct. 8 respectively, on Oct. 3 Doerksen was asked point blank by CTV host Vassy Kapelos about Heather Maahs and her years of anti-LGBTQ comments. 

Kapelos questioned how Doerksen could say he was supportive of same-sex marriage while keeping such a homophobic candidate in caucus. Over approximately five minutes including three follow-ups, Doersken put on a textbook display of dancing around a political question without answering it. 

What Kapelos didn’t push him on was the uncomfortable fact that while Agou and McIntosh would never have won in their ridings anyway, Maahs was a shoo-in in Chilliwack North. He couldn’t boot her out.

Here is a transcript of the Oct. 3, 2026, interview where Kapelos asks Doerksen about Maahs. Note Doerksen uses the term “robust conservations” when not answering. The CTV interview is embedded below.

B.C. Conservative leader disagrees with candidate’s anti-LGBT remarks, but won’t remove her as candidate

October 3, 2026

CTV Host Vassy Kapelos: 
“Mr. Doerksen, you have said, over the past few weeks, that you are in favour of same-sex marriage. The NDP is flagging a video on social media, with one of your candidates, Heather Maahs, in which she is describing material involving boys and same sex relationships as grooming and conflating the two concepts. 

“She's also the MLA who hosted back in 2025, at the legislature, a reception for a group called the Association for Reform Political Action, which is an organization which believes homosexuality is immoral, abortion should be criminalized, and conversion therapy bans should be reversed. 

“She said at the time that there were many views in that organization that align with the views of the BC Conservative Party. Is that acceptable to you, and will she remain a candidate?”

Lorne Doerksen: 
“We’ve had, certainly, some pretty robust conversations on a number of different subjects. The fact is that we are going to bring people from all over British Columbia to represent, uh, and there will be obviously robust conversations that come forward on definitely topics such as that it's, uh, what I would say is that we are obviously encouraged, and I am committed to making sure that people are treated with respect, uh, in this province, and certainly that we provide safe spaces for all of our children, our residents. It's absolute commitment from me.” 

Kapelos: 
“So respectfully, Mr. Doerksen, and I have to challenge you. You didn't answer the substance of the question, which is, around whether or why she would remain a candidate, if she espoused those views, doesn't that run exactly contrary to what you just spelled out, with respect to safe space?”

Doerksen:
“Well, I think that the NDP, obviously, is digging up a number of things that have been canvassed from the past. I think that we have contemplated much since, and I think there has been, obviously, as I just indicated, robust conversations about these types of issues in our caucus room, and certainly, I am committed to making sure that we bring forward safe spaces for all of our children, and a respectful conversation going forward. 

Kapelos: 
“That is a view that she has espoused, no matter how far back it goes, and I understand your point about the NDP, but that's what happens in an election. Parties dig up stuff on each other. Is her view acceptable to you? And I ask on behalf of people who are wondering about where your party stands. I know you've made your view clear, but does that, you know, there's still confusion about where other members, including her, stand?” 

Doerksen:
“Yeah, I, I don't, uh, I don't share that view, of course, and I, I would be clear in saying that, uh, I believe that our caucus is, is absolutely committed to putting forth, uh, you know, our thoughts on this subject with respect to safety and respect.”

Kapelos:
“How can you do that, with respect, with her in the caucus?”

Doerksen:
“Well, I think that there will obviously be conversations that will occur in our caucus room, particularly with individual members, that I hope that we will be able to arrive at a place where we all agree to go forward with, you know… and certainly legislation, and other things that will reflect a unified thought on all of these topics. But she'll remain in caucus. Yes.” 

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Paul J. Henderson
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