Harman Bhangu says he will ‘most likely’ run for leadership of B.C. Conservatives

VICTORIA – B.C. Conservative MLA Harman Bhangu says he will “most likely” run for the leadership of the provincial Opposition party, if the yet-to-be-released rules for the race are to his liking. 

Bhangu, a former trucker who was elected as MLA for Abbotsford-Langley in 2024, says he will make his final decision once the party has released the rules, which he expects in the second or third week of the new year.

“If I like the way it is, transparent, then I feel like it will be a good honest race, I will definitely, most likely, put my name forward,” he said.  

His signal comes after Bhangu’s friend Aaron Gunn, who is a federal Conservative MP, said on Christmas Eve that he would not seek the B.C. Conservative leadership. 

Bhangu had said earlier this month that he would not seek the party leadership as long as Gunn was in contention, saying he would not “run against a friend I’ve stood shoulder-to-shoulder with since the beginning.”

Bhangu said he entered politics to help Gunn seek the leadership of the B.C. Liberals, before the party imploded last year. 

“I committed to him back then, and I want to be a good friend, stick by his side,” Bhangu said. “But he has decided (against running). But who knows? Things can always change in politics, right? Who knows what’s going to happen next week?”

Bhangu — who was one of five MLAs to vote in favour of banning land acknowledgments by public employees in October — said he had been making a lot of calls and “a lot of folks” have told him that they would back his candidacy, adding the likelihood of him running “is pretty high up there.” 

He said his final decision will also take into account the possibility of a snap election, because the winning candidate must be able to “raise a bunch of money” quickly.

There was talk of a snap election “all the time,” Bhangu said. “It’s always been floating around. So…if you are running for leader, you need to assess, ‘do you have the network to help after the leadership (race) to bring in a supplementary and a third and a fourth wave of funding to get the party and all the candidates ready and put them in a situation to succeed?'”

Bhangu first ran for the B.C. Conservatives in 2022 and served as the party’s vice-president before it rose to contend for government under former leader John Rustad in the 2024 election.

He said he would focus on economic issues if he were to run, citing his background in trucking. 

Although no one has officially announced their candidacy since Rustad quit on Dec. 4, the list of names linked to the race is long.

It includes former grocery executive Darrell Jones, who has said he is “seriously considering” running. 

Conservative MLA Peter Milobar, former B.C. Liberal cabinet minister Iain Black, former federal Conservative MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay, entrepreneur Yuri Fulmer, commentator Caroline Elliott and Chris Gardner, president of the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association, have also been suggested as contenders.

Bhangu said nobody has officially announced their candidacy yet because, like him, they are waiting for the rules to drop and nobody wants to sign a contract without knowing what they are buying. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 30, 2025.