thank you John and uh thank you all for joining me um politics for me has always been about doing what is best in the interests of British Colombians I've spent my entire adult life fighting not only the NDP and their brand of leftwing socialism but also fighting to unite the center right I did that in the 90s when we were trying to bring together the provincial Reform Party and the BC conservative party at the time to coales together under the BC Liberal Party and now as a BC United party again the name is about trying to unite people but what became apparent to me uh as I've crisscrossed The Province and heard from literally tens of thousands of people is the number one major concern that they had and that is Kevin if you guys don't do the right thing and be the adults in the room and help bring together that free enterprise center right Common Sense Coalition you are going to help elect an NDP government and all of you that know me know that there is nothing more important to me and my children and your children and grandchildren that we not give the NDP one more day in power than they absolutely have to have and that's why uh I made the decision uh that I made as leader of BC United to suspend our campaign I will be with drawing our candidate uh nominations and in cooperation with uh John rustad we will work together to uh assemble the best possible team of mlaas and candidates that can serve the best interests of British Colombians that is not a decision that gets made today I know there's all kinds of speculation about different names we're not going to be going into all that because we still are going to have individual conversations with all of those folks uh it is a process that will take uh some weeks uh there's no doubt but I do want uh as I said to my candidates on a a call today I've had a couple of calls one was a call with the board of directors uh of BC United party who endorsed the decision that I'm making here today I also had a call with my caucus and my candidates and it wasn't an easy call and I knew it wouldn't be this is hard it's really hard and I accept all the responsibility good and bad all the Opium should rest on my shoulders that's what leadership's all about but I also believe this this is the right thing to do for the province of British Columbia this is the right thing to do for that next generation of British Colombians that want to grow up in a province like we grew up in where hope and optimism were not the exception but the rule and that's why I've made the decision uh that I I made today uh I also want to say to John John and I met for many many hours this I know these things happen quickly that's just the nature of it uh already word and rumors getting out that's just the nature of our business but I want to say that John I appreciated the graciousness of you and your staff and I think it's important for all my people to know this that there was a genuine graciousness on both sides and a willingness to say let's park a lot of our own disagreements Etc and let's think about what's in the best interest of the broader population of British Columbia and so I want to uh thank uh all of my exceptional staff many of whom will be feeling extremely disappointed today and I know why they'll be feeling extremely disappointed but I want them all to know whether staff whether caucus colleagues whether candidates whether supporters I want them all to know that I have a line of sight into a whole range of areas that impact what kind of campaign we can run and I can look them all in the eye and say to them this is the right thing for us as a party and it's the right thing for British Colombians and with that I thank you