Former grocery exec. mulling political run cites affordability, public safety as key issues

As the B.C. Conservative party prepares to search for a new leader, a well-known business executive says he’s seriously considering a run.

As the B.C. Conservative Party prepares to search for a new leader, a recently retired grocery executive says affordability, public safety and health care are the key issues behind his leadership aspirations.

To most British Columbians, Darrell Jones is best known for his folksy Save-On-Foods commercials – but he may be ready to show the province he has a more serious side.

“The sooner we can look at the problems and solve them, the better off we’re going to be. And all problems are solvable. You just need the courage and commitment to solve them,” Jones told CTV News in an interview.

He spent 48 years working for Pattison Food Group, starting as a teenage grocery-bagger in Cranbrook, before eventually retiring as the company’s president.

For his next challenge, Jones is weighing a run for leader of the fractured B.C. Conservatives, a party that has seen more drama than HBO in recent months.

“Whoever becomes leader, I think has a pretty good opportunity to become premier if – and this is a big if – they can unite that party,” said University of the Fraser Valley political scientist Hamish Telford.

Since coming within a whisker of winning last fall’s provincial election, infighting has led to some Conservative MLAs being ejected from the ranks.

Others have walked away from the party of their own accord.

Earlier this month, bowing to pressure from within, John Rustad resigned as leader.

“The Conservative Party has had their issues but what we need to do is to bring them together,” Jones said. “We need to take what I would call a more moderate conservative approach to what’s best for B.C.”

He says he is going to take some time to talk to regular folks around the province before deciding whether to formally enter the race.

“If they believe I can help make the province a better place, and I hear that over the next six-to-eight weeks, then I’ll take serious consideration – and I’ll run,” he said.

If that happens, he will then turn his focus to signing up new members to the party and trying to win support from within the elected Conservative caucus.