Veteran British Columbia legislator Mike Bernier will run in the fall provincial election as an independent instead of joining several former BC United candidates in running under the B.C. Conservatives banner.

Bernier said Wednesday he did not want to "bend" his morals and values by running with the provincial Conservatives, describing some of the party's candidates as holding views that are "anti-women's rights, anti-climate change" and "anti-First Nations."

His decision comes after B.C.'s political landscape underwent a seismic shift last week, when BC United Leader Kevin Falcon shut down the Official Opposition's campaign while throwing support behind the Conservatives led by John Rustad.

The parties have pooled candidates, with some BC United contenders joining the Conservatives, others withdrawing from the election and others, like Bernier, running as independents.

"I think that they put together a bunch of people that were right for the (B.C. Conservative) party that I would just really have a hard time working with," Bernier said in an interview.

"And I believe, unless they can moderate some of their views, they're going to really struggle in resonating with the majority of British Columbians."

The Peace River South MLA had said previously that he might run as a B.C. Conservative if asked, but says when announcing his decision to go independent that he "never spoke to them at all."

Bernier said many voters in his region vote to support a particular candidate, rather than a political party, and that people pushed him to stay in the race.

Bernier was first elected in 2013 and won his seat in the 2020 provincial election with 51 per cent of the vote.

He predicted that the election would be close, potentially giving independent MLAs the balance of power in the legislature.

"There'll be a lot of different scenarios that could play out. But again, for myself, at the end of the day, it's just really getting up and fighting for the people," he said.

Bernier called Falcon's actions last week "the dirty side of politics" and said BC United had been running centre-right candidates who "could have filled that void" between left and right-wing parties.

"We have a very diverse province, and I know people shouldn't feel like they have to be told who to vote for, because I don't want to see that polarizing kind of politics in British Columbia that sometimes we see down south," he said. 

A joint list of 140 previously endorsed candidates from both parties is being whittled down to fit the 93 ridings up for grabs, and three United MLAs — Ian Paton, Peter Milobar and Trevor Halford — on Tuesday announced they were running as Conservatives.

The shake up has also meant the shuffling and, in some cases, the dropping of former B.C. Conservative candidates in favour of those from BC United.

They include Dupinder Kaur Saran who has said she is also planning to run as an independent in Surrey-Panorama after losing party endorsement.

Kevin Acton, the mayor of Lumby and the former BC United candidate in the Vernon-Lumby riding, also announced he would be running as an independent after losing his endorsement in the shuffle.

“While the party model of government has certain benefits, it also has a number of obvious flaws — including the ability of a party leader to remove previously vetted and duly elected candidates from participation as that party’s candidate, without the benefit of consultation or agreement from local constituents or the declared candidate," Acton said in a statement posted online.

The Conservative slot on the ballot in Vernon-Lumby is now slated to be filled by former Kamloops-Centre candidate Dennis Giesbrecht, who was moved from the Kamloops spot to make room for Milobar.

Elections BC director of communications Andrew Watson said in an email that while a political party can withdraw its endorsement of a candidate, only the person who is running can withdraw their nomination.

That means it is up to the person who is nominated to withdraw, run as an independent, or run as an unaffiliated candidate, in which case only their name would appear on the ballot, without the "independent" label.

Candidate nominations close in B.C. at 1 p.m. on Sept. 28.

– Chuck Chiang and Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press