By Greg Fry

B.C. politics

Pat Bell endorses Darrell Jones for leader of BC Conservatives

Dec 17, 2025 | 1:47 PM

PRINCE GEORGE — A prominent Prince George businessman and former BC Liberal cabinet minister has endorsed Darrell Jones for leader of the Conservative Party of BC.

“You know, I think we need someone new in the political world right now,” says Pat Bell. “So, the idea of having someone like Darrell Jones, who I do not know well, but to have someone like him, who’s coming from the private sector, 47 years in the Save-On world, into the public sector, with real life experience, could coalesce the free-enterprise movement in B.C..”

He doesn’t believe being a perceived “outsider,” would be harmful to his candidacy.

“I think people in B.C. may be a bit tired of politicians and perhaps, rightfully so. They’re tired of promises without delivery. You know, I think bringing someone in from the outside – you don’t work for Jimmy Pattison for 47 years without delivering, without delivering on your commitments and demonstrating that you’ve got business skills. I think it’s of real value,” adds Bell.

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But one political expert says joining the race with no experience could be a challenge.

“I hope that having no political experience is not a barrier, we don’t want to deter people from all walks of life from seeking to enter politics. But it’s still a steep learning curve for anyone and it could hamstring anyone from leadership roles,” says UNBC Political Science Lecturer Jason Morris.

But Bell says it wasn’t long ago an outsider joined a similar race and found success.

“In 2011, Christy Clark showed that you don’t have to be an insider to be successful in a leadership campaign. So my advice to Daryl, if he’s interested, would be that he needs to follow a similar model which was getting out to all ridings across the province and speaking one-on-one to individuals in each of the ridings. You need to sign people up – Christy did an incredible job of that and was rewarded and ended up premier for six or seven years.”

Jones hasn’t revealed his platform should he end up taking the political plunge, but notes the issues he hears about most consistently are about everyday affordability, housing costs, public safety, and access to timely, reliable healthcare.

Pattison Media and Save-On-Foods are co-owned by Jim Pattison Industries.