VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – A conservative kingpin says it’s time for the BC Liberals to change the party name, sell party memberships and hold a convention before the 2013 provincial election.

Former Progressive Conservative MP turned Social Credit MLA turned Reform turned Canadian Alliance MP John Reynolds says centre-right voters have been gathered as a coalition for years under the BC Liberal banner, but insists people are open to a name change, especially after the governing party suffered two recent byelection losses and lags behind the NDP in the polls.

“My feeling is have a convention, put that ballot to the members of the coalition party to pick a new name. You also have policy at that convention as to what that policy is going to be in the next election,” believes Reynolds. “And between now and that convention,we go out and we sell memberships to the party that is the coalition. It always has been.”

Former BC Liberal Finance Minister Colin Hansen suggested a party name change at its convention last May but that idea was rejected.

Reynolds says centre-right voters were part of a Social Credit coalition for many years before the BC Liberals.

“Let’s find a name that’s acceptable to all sides,” he says. “We’ve got a premier [Christy Clark] who’s doing a good job and we’ve got a province that’s just got [its] Triple A [credit] rating. Not too many provinces are as well off as we are. We can’t afford an NDP government, so we’ve got to get together.”

As for the BC Conservative Party rebuffing advances from the Liberals to cooperate ahead of the 2013 election, Reynolds points to party leader John Cummins.

“John’s an individual, always has been. But my feeling is if we open this convention up to everybody to come and we vote on a name change, that we will take most of his vote with us.”

The BC Conservatives placed third in both the Port Moody-Coquitlam and Chilliwack-Hope byelections last week. Port Moody NDP MLA-elect Joe Trasolini won with over 54 per cent of votes cast, more than the Liberals and Conservatives combined. In Chilliwack-Hope however, the NDP’s Gwen O’Mahony was victorious with 41 per cent of votes cast. The Liberals captured just under 32 per cent of the vote, while the Conservatives garnered just over 25 per cent.

“My feeling is that even the conservatives that voted [for the BC Conservatives] in the last byelection saw that by not sticking together, you’re guaranteed an NDP government.”

“If you look at the byelections, you’ve got…less than half the votes you get in a normal election, so you really don’t have 25 per cent of the voters. There’s a protest vote at byelections and that’s what happened in this vote,” Reynolds contends. “My point is, if we put the coalition together properly, get out and sell memberships – those of us who have not been active, let’s get active – I believe we can save the day in the end and win the next election against the NDP.”

Reynolds says the BC Conservatives split the centre-right coalition in the early 1970′s, allowing the NDP to win government for the first time in BC in 1972. In the 1975 election, Social Credit returned to power under a united centre-right faction.

He argues prominent BC Liberals joined forces with the Socreds in 1986, defeating the NDP again, and he believes there is enough time to do it before May 2013.

“It’s enough time in today’s politics with the media coverage today, with the Internet, tweeting, all the materials that are out there in the social media, you can turn things around very quickly.”