Former B.C. cabinet minister Ellis Ross, a onetime chief councillor of the northern Haisla nation, has signed on to the federal Conservative cause, and is to run for the party in the Skeena-Bulkley Valley riding in the next federal election.
Mr. Ross, now a legislature member for the official opposition BC United party, briefly served in Liberal premier Christy Clark’s cabinet as housing minister and minister responsible for natural-gas development in 2017. Last year, the BC Liberals, a coalition of federal Conservatives and Liberals, changed their name to BC United.
“It’s a huge catch for them,” Ms. Clark said Tuesday, referring to the Conservatives, who are seeking to win a riding that has been held by the NDP since it was created in 2004.
Ms. Clark said Mr. Ross, a proponent of the liquefied natural gas sector in B.C., particularly Indigenous participation in the sector, brought a real passion for resource development, and understanding of its impact on people’s lives to government.
“I don’t think the Conservative caucus is any less immune to groupthink than any other caucus. He’s going to bring that frankness, and clear-eyed view of the way the world really is in British Columbia to it.”
However, Mr. Ross’s move is expected to have consequences for BC United, which has been struggling against rising support for a provincial Conservative Party in BC.
“It’s a huge loss,” said Hamish Telford, a political scientist at the University of the Fraser Valley. “To have a prominent Indigenous member in their caucus, a prominent member of the community, was a huge benefit to them.”
In an interview on Tuesday, Mr. Ross, 58, said he will remain a BC United MLA until the next B.C. election, expected later this year.
He said he thinks BC United is in good hands with its current leader, Kevin Falcon. “There’s some branding confusion with the new name, BC United. So it’s going to take some work and that’s what he’s doing right now,” he said.
Mr. Ross said he has been on an improbable path through politics, working as a taxi-boat operator until he became a councillor for the Haisla Nation Council in B.C. in 2003 – a position he held until 2011 when he was elected chief councillor for the nation, and re-elected in 2013.
He was elected MLA for the provincial riding of Skeena in 2017 and re-elected in 2020. In 2022, he placed second in a field of seven candidates in the race to lead the BC Liberals.
“I am astounded and humbled by the fact that I have been given this life,” he said. “I just view it that I have been given an incredible opportunity to provide a service, as a duty to the region, to the province and now to provide a service to Canada.”
Mr. Ross said he had long considered a move to federal politics, with Conservatives having previously invited him to consider the option.
Mr. Ross, who has been the BC United opposition critic for energy and liquefied natural gas, said he had a productive meeting with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre during a visit to Ottawa last year where he was aiming to meet with German officials to make the case for liquefied natural gas from B.C.
“He was kind enough to sit down with me,” said Mr. Ross, noting they discussed LNG development. “That was when I first met him face to face. I was really impressed with the way he talked back to me.
“He didn’t talk to me. He talked with me, and I appreciate people like that.”
In a posting on X announcing his candidacy, Mr. Poilievre noted that Mr. Ross will always fight for his people’s right to develop resources, and keep their hunting rifles.
The Conservatives have been announcing candidates running for them in the next election, including former Prince Edward Island fisheries minister Jamie Fox and Yves Lévesque, the former mayor of Trois-Rivières.
New Democrat Taylor Bachrach, who has represented Skeena-Bulkley Valley since 2019, said he looks forward to debating the issues with Mr. Ross.
“The question in the next election will be if people in the Northwest want a return to the Conservatives’ cut-and-gut approach that will take away childcare, dental care and other services people count on,” he said in a statement. “I’m proud of my record standing up for the Northwest.”