BC Conservatives should unite around half a dozen core issues important to British Columbians and then keep their mouths shut about everything else. That, leadership candidate Yuri Fulmer argues, is the difference between forming government and blowing another winnable election.

“We need to coalesce the right of centre around a few issues that are really important to British Columbians,” Fulmer told me in a recent interview.

“We've got to show up with solutions. … We’ve got to show up with optimism and some hope for the future. We’ve got to paint people a picture of British Columbia that they can buy into.

“And to be honest, we’ve got to zip it on everything else.”

Everything else being the pet projects of individual MLAs, or personal “bugaboo” issues they want to champion far beyond the interest of most voters, said Fulmer. Like ostriches. Or gender-neutral washrooms. Or transgender people competing in sports.

The 51-year-old business man said he’s hearing “zero” of those issues from people he talks to. MLAs on his team, should he win the leadership, will need to unite around core issues like cost of living, health care, public safety and the economy, and leave the rest at the door.

“Being part of a team means you don't get your own bugaboo,” he said, dismissing the kind of niche culture-war........

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