Kevin Falcon

Kevin Falcon is a Canadian provincial politician who has been the leader of BC United since 2022 and was the Leader of the Opposition from 2022 to 2024. He was the member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the district of Vancouver-Quilchena, from April 2022, when he won the seat in a by-election until the 2024 provincial election, for which he suspended his party's campaign and withdrew his candidacy for re-election. He formerly served as the MLA for Surrey-Cloverdale as a member of the then BC Liberals from 2001 to 2013. He served as both the 12th deputy premier of British Columbia, and the province's minister of Finance.

Early life and career

Born in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Falcon attended Vancouver College, an all-boys Catholic preparatory high school, where he said he got free tuition due to his family's low income.

Falcon studied political science at Simon Fraser University (SFU), where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree. He was a member of the Young Socreds on campus while future Premier Christy Clark was also at SFU.

After graduation, Falcon was part of a movement to that saw Doug McCallum upset incumbent mayor Bob Bose of the NDP-affiliated Surrey Civic Electors party in 1996, and the election to council of future mayor Dianne Watts.

Falcon set up a communications consultancy, Access Group, in 1998.
He was a lead organizer of the "Total Recall" effort to recall a number of BC New Democratic Party MLAs in 1999.

Provincial politics (2001–2013)

Falcon became the BC Liberal nominee for Surrey-Cloverdale in 1999, defeating incumbent Bonnie McKinnon. He was elected in the 2001 British Columbia general election, and re-elected in the 2005, and 2009 elections.

Campbell ministry

Following the election of a Liberal majority in 2001, Falcon joined Gordon Campbell's cabinet. He was appointed to the newly created position of Minister of State for Deregulation, where he cut "red tape" (ie, regulations that create costs or frustration for consumers and producers while providing little benefit to the public).

Falcon's reforms are credited with moving B.C. to among the best performing provinces: economic growth increased from 1.9% below the provincial average between 1994 and 2001 to 1.21% above the average between 2002 and 2006.

In 2004, Falcon was elevated to Minister of Transportation, following the resignation of the then minister, Judith Reid after the BC Legislature raids linked to the sale of BC Rail (" Railgate"). In that role, he changed TransLink's governance structure to introduce a government-appointed board of professionals (engineers, accountants, etc.) to run day-to-day operations, and a council of mayors to deal with long term planning.
He also introduced the Gateway Program, a $3 billion regional transportation strategy for Metro Vancouver that launched the construction of the new Port Mann Bridge.

In June 2009, Falcon was appointed as Minister of Health.

Campaign for Liberal leadership

On November 3, 2010, Premier Gordon Campbell announced that he would step down as Premier of British Columbia once his successor was chosen. On November 30, 2010, Falcon launched his campaign for the 2011 BC Liberal Party leadership, with policy stances that included lowering the harmonized sales tax, increasing trade with Asia, providing childcare options, and increasing the minimum wage. At that time, Falcon's social media traffic was the highest of declared candidates. On February 26, 2011, Falcon narrowly lost his bid to become the Liberal leader, and the province's Premier, to Christy Clark by a margin of 52% - 48% in the third round of voting by party members.

Clark ministry

The new premier, Christy Clark, included Falcon in her cabinet, appointing him Minister of Finance and Deputy Premier.

In August 2012, expecting the birth of his second daughter Rose, Falcon indicated he would not run in the 2013 election.

Break from political office (2013–2021)

After leaving the legislature, Falcon moved to North Vancouver and joined Vancouver-based Anthem Capital as their Executive Vice President. He also took on volunteer roles with non-profit organizations including the Canuck Place Foundation, Lions Gate Hospital Foundation and the Streetohome Foundation. In February 2014, he was also named as an honorary director of the Surrey Board of Trade.

He endorsed Maxime Bernier in the 2017 Conservative Leadership Race. Falcon worked with a real estate developer friend to raise $130,000 for Bernier in a single night - a record for the campaign at the time.

Return to political office (2021–2025)

BC Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson announced his resignation on 26 October 2020, and officially resigned on 17 February 2021, triggering a year-long BC Liberal leadership race. Falcon officially joined the race a month later. In his launch speech, Falcon committed to renaming the BC Liberal Party in consultation with members to better reflect the party's values.

On October 31, 2021, Diamond Isinger, campaign manager for fellow leadership candidate Michael Lee, shared a statement about an "incident of sexual & personal harassment" with a Falcon campaign staffer. Insinger said she went public with her allegations "due to the lack of action taken" after addressing her concerns privately with the Falcon campaign. Falcon fired the staffer the day after Isinger's statement.

Falcon won the leadership on February 5, 2022, crossing the 50% threshold required to win on the fifth ballot. Following Falcon's win, Andrew Wilkinson formally resigned as an MLA to free up his seat in Vancouver-Quilchena for Falcon to run. A by-election for the riding was called on April 2, 2022. Falcon won the by-election, being elected MLA for the riding.

In August 2022, Liberal MLA John Rustad drew criticism for suggesting that CO₂ emissions were not contributing to climate change. Falcon fired Rustad from the BC Liberal Caucus, adding: “John Rustad does not speak on behalf of caucus on this issue.” Rustad later joined the BC Conservatives and was acclaimed as their new leader in March 2023.

Falcon unveiled the new BC United name and branding on April 12, 2023.

The renamed party was unable to prevent a surge in support for the BC Conservative Party and fell to a distant third place in public opinion polls. Four BC United MLAs crossed the floor to join the Conservatives from September 2023 to July 2024. On August 28, 2024, Falcon announced that BC United was suspending its campaign and withdrawing its candidates from the 2024 British Columbia general election in order to endorse the Conservatives. Falcon also announced he would not be running in the election. Falcon remained party leader following the election. In February 2025, former BC United MLA Karin Kirkpatrick called for him to resign saying that his continued presence was preventing the party from rebuilding and raising funds to pay its debts.

Personal life

Falcon lives in North Vancouver with his wife Jessica and daughters Josephine and Rose.

See also

* British Columbia United
* 2022 British Columbia Liberal Party leadership election

Notes

References

External links

Official Biography, Legislative Assembly of British Columbia

{{DEFAULTSORT:Falcon, Kevin
1963 births
21st-century members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia
BC United MLAs
Businesspeople from British Columbia
Canadian businesspeople in real estate
Canadian financial businesspeople
Deputy premiers of British Columbia
Leaders of the opposition (British Columbia)
Living people
Members of the Executive Council of British Columbia
Ministers of finance of British Columbia
Ministers of health of British Columbia
People from Surrey, British Columbia
Politicians from West Vancouver
Simon Fraser University alumni
Vancouver College alumni