BC United MLA Ellis Ross announces run for federal Conservatives

Ellis Ross, a twice-elected BC United member of the legislative assembly (MLA) and former Haisla Nation chief, has announced he will be leaving provincial politics to try and enter the House of Commons during the next federal election.

On Monday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre took to social media to publicly welcome the Skeena MLA as his party’s candidate for the Skeena-Bulkley Valley riding.

“Ellis Ross will always fight for his people’s right to develop resources, keep their hunting rifles & powerful paycheques that buy affordable food & homes,” he wrote.

The comment speaks volumes about Ross’ history of advocating for B.C. to become a resource-driven economy, including his public support of liquified natural gas (LNG) development to help Indigenous communities prosper.

In a previous interview with Rebel News, Ross suggested the best way to get B.C.’s economy back on track would be to “get rid of the politics, get rid of the ideology of the parties,” and “focus on what works.”

In 2022, Ross gracefully lost his bid for the leadership of BC United (then called BC Liberals), finishing second to its current leader, Kevin Falcon. He's remained a key member of the party, serving as shadow minister for energy and LNG.

In a video posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, Falcon congratulated Ross on his new endeavour, expressing mixed emotions about having to see him go.

“It’s sad and it’s happy at the same time. Sad because I hate losing a good colleague like Ellis, but happy because your message and your fight for LNG and natural resources are going to go to Ottawa where it belongs to make sure that we’ve got people fighting for Indigenous and non-Indigenous folks here in British Columbia.”

While BC United is often described as a coalition party that includes members across the political spectrum, including conservatives, Ross will make the third prominent member of the party to seek a new home in a more clearly-branded conservative party.

In an interview with Rebel News, Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad, who now leads the Conservative Party of British Columbia, described how he was kicked out of BC United — on his birthday — after refusing to apologize for the simple act of retweeting a post on X.

The post of apparent offence to BC United was written by former Greenpeace co-founder and director of the CO2 Coalition, Patrick Moore. Moore wrote that the case for carbon dioxide (CO2) “being the control knob of global temperature gets weaker every day.

In the move that led to the Conservative Party of BC gaining official party status, Abbotsford South MLA Bruce Banman announced his choice to leave BC United to join the Conservative Party of BC.

Since then, the sprouting party has tackled the concerns of many British Columbians who are often ignored or vilified by politicians, and polls continue to look good for the BC Conservatives.

In the legislative assembly, the party's two MLAs have called for Dr. Bonnie Henry to be fired for her ongoing discriminatory COVID jab mandate against health-care workers, amplified the voices of parents desperate to have sexually-explicit materials, which are passed off as “inclusive learning resources,” removed from schools.

Prior to Banman moving to the party, Rustad was the sole MLA who refused to support a motion condemning the Freedom Convoy. The 2022 protest was smothered out by the Trudeau government’s invocation of an Emergencies Act, a tyrannical move that was just deemed unconstitutional by a Federal Court justice on Tuesday.

Ross says he will remain in his MLA role for BC United until the province's upcoming election, which is expected to take place on October 14.

Rebel News will have our boots on the ground during the campaign, bringing you reports you can trust and posing the questions you deserve answers to during BC’s upcoming election. To help fund our capabilities to bring you these reports, please donate what you can to BCLeadershipReports.com.

Drea Humphrey

B.C. Bureau Chief

Based in British Columbia, Drea Humphrey reports on Western Canada for Rebel News. Drea’s reporting is not afraid to challenge political correctness, or ask the tough questions that mainstream media tends to avoid.

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