Peter Milobar will be without his longtime campaign manager during the final stretch of the race to become the new leader of the Conservative Party of B.C. 

Milobar’s campaign says in a statement released Saturday on social media that Mark Werner is “stepping back” from his role to “focus on his family business.”

The announcement comes after Milobar issued statement on April 9 that says “preliminary discussions” with Werner “confirmed that he had no knowledge” of a mail-out and website that targeted former Conservative leader John Rustad and Richmond MLA Teresa Wat.

Milobar issued that first statement after Elections B.C. had fined B.C. United $4,500 for “transmitting a false statement to affect election results” related to the website. 

The website, set up in August 2024, was falsely purported at the time to have been created by disgruntled Conservatives. However, Elections B.C. says the website was orchestrated by B.C. United campaign officials, who hired an Alberta political operative’s firm called Sovereign North Strategies Inc.

Elections B.C. says evidence confirms the website and mail out were organized by B.C. United’s campaign manager, and while Elections B.C. did not the name the campaign manager, Werner was in the role at the time. 

Milobar said in his April 9 statement that it was his understanding that B.C. United suspended its campaign on Aug. 28, 2024, and that “Mr. Werner was terminated on that day.” 

The former mayor of Kamloops, who is considered a leading contender to replace Rustad, also said on April 9 that he is in the process of looking into what happened after Aug. 28.

That was the date when Rustad and then B.C. United Leader Kevin Falcon announced their deal, which saw B.C. United fold its campaign amid sagging polling numbers for the party, which had emerged out of the former B.C. Liberals. 

Falcon and Rustad were once part of the former B.C. Liberals, but Falcon kicked Rustad out of caucus in 2022. 

That set the stage for Rustad to become leader of the Conservatives, eventually leading the party to 44 seats in the 2024 general election. Milobar, also once part of B.C. United, eventually joined the Conservatives as a candidate that year to handily win his Kamloops riding. 

Rustad, who was forced out of his office in late 2025, has since accused Falcon of “intentionally” undermining efforts to defeat the NDP with the website, which was set up in August 2024. 

“It’s incredibly Machiavellian. It’s plain and simple,” Rustad said.

Rustad posted on X Thursday that he believed the “dirty trick” of the website, “firejohnrustad.ca,” suppressed voter turnout and may have cost the Conservatives victory.

Werner, who has managed Milobar since 2016, told The Canadian Press Thursday that he had no knowledge of the anti-Rustad website or the mailer smearing Wat.

While the election regulator claimed it tried speaking with him, he said never heard from them despite his contact information being easily found online. 

Werner said at the time that he ceased being part of B.C. United the day it folded its campaign in August 2024.

Milobar says in his statement issued Saturday that Jeff Conaster will take over the campaign. 

The changes comes as the race to replace Rustad enters the final stretch. Candidates have until April 18 to sign up new members, who are then eligible to vote next month. 

Milobar is considered to be among the leading candidates in the race. The other remaining candidates are contractor Warren Hamm, former B.C. Liberal cabinet minister Iain Black, former federal MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay, and commentator Caroline Elliott, who is the sister-in-law of Falcon.

UBC political science lecturer Stewart Prest says on social media that this late change in Milobar’s campaign team favours Elliott. 

“Milobar is the ‘champion’ of the moderate wing of the BC Conservatives, but they won’t be able to hold the line here any more than they could in BC United.”