B.C. Conservatives enlist former B.C. NDP MLA to run on Vancouver Island

Gwen O'Mahony, the former NDP MLA for Chilliwack-Hope, announced she will run for the B.C. Conservatives in the newly created riding of Nanaimo-Lantzville. (Facebook/Gwen O'Mahony)

A former B.C. New Democrat MLA in the Fraser Valley has been recruited by the B.C. Conservatives to run for a seat on Vancouver Island in the October provincial election.

Gwen O'Mahony, the former NDP MLA for Chilliwack-Hope, announced she will run for the Conservatives in the newly created riding of Nanaimo-Lantzville.

O'Mahony was elected as an MLA in a byelection in 2021 but was voted out the following year. In her brief tenure at the legislature, she served as the deputy critic for advanced education and the critic for skills training.

In a video posted Wednesday on social media, O'Mahony joined B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad to announce her candidacy for the new riding.

O'Mahony says the B.C. NDP's drug decriminalization policies were a turning point in her political life, prompting her to leave the party.

"My values are the same. I'm still the same Gwen," she says in the video. "I haven't changed. The NDP has changed."

In a subsequent video posted online Thursday, O'Mahony expands on her political views, saying the B.C. NDP under Premier David Eby has been "taken over by radical activists" with "an extreme agenda."

In her official biography on the Conservative Party of B.C. website, O'Mahony says she opposes the province's current policies around gender identity and sexual orientation in schools.

Last fall, she moderated a panel discussion on women's sports and women-only spaces, and says she was "extremely" concerned to hear the panellists' experiences with "cancel culture" and gender-inclusive spaces.

The new riding she’s running for was created last year when the B.C. Electoral Boundaries Commission divided the region into Nanaimo-Lantzville in the north and Nanaimo-Gabriola in the south.

The Nanaimo riding is currently held by NDP MLA and Minister Social Development and Poverty Reduction Sheila Malcolmson.