United they stood, but divided they fell. BC United’s 57-person roster of candidates and incumbents was consigned mostly to the political scrap heap Tuesday, after Conservative Leader John Rustad picked his way through the party’s roster of abandoned candidates and drafted only a small number to his election team.

Rustad turned his nose up at most of the United candidates available to him, meaning they will have to retire or run as independents. A few United members had already quickly pulled the ripcord on their careers to avoid the humiliation of not getting picked.

When the dust settled Tuesday, Rustad selected only seven United members — three MLAs and four first-time candidates.

A couple more may be waiting in the wings for the days ahead. But United will be lucky if it sees 10 people, total, get chosen by the Conservatives. Out of 57.

That’s certainly not what United members thought was going to happen last week when leader Kevin Falcon told them about the Conservative deal — though, to be fair, they didn’t hear the plan in much detail because Falcon only delivered it after it leaked in the media and mere minutes before he went on stage to announce it publicly.

“In co-operation with John Rustad, we will work together to assemble the best possible team of MLAs and candidates to serve the best interests of British Columbians,” Falcon........

© BIV