Peter Milobar

Kamloops City Council

While managing his family's Days Inn Hotel, Milobar made his first run for Kamloops City Council at the age of 32, winning his seat with 7,130 votes.^[2] Milobar ran on a platform of working to ensure Royal Inland Hospital retain its status as a referral centre with further expansion/equipment to retain and attract new doctors and nurses, and the expansion of the local tax base by encouraging further development in Kamloops. He was re-elected as a city councillor in the 2005 municipal election.

Milobar served on city council for two terms from 2002 to 2008, before being elected mayor of Kamloops in 2008.^[3]

Kamloops Mayor

On July 30, 2008, Milobar announced his plans to run for mayor in that fall's municipal election with a platform of "A Balanced Approach" to decision making, and his goals of fulfilling tournament capital commitments, upgrading the sewage treatment plant, completing the Kamloops Sustainability Plan,^[4] working with agricultural groups on a new expo space, work on affordable housing options, safety initiatives between Royal Canadian Mounted Police and By-Law staff, and to work with BC Transit for continued sustainable transit expansion.^[5][6]

Milobar was elected as the 39th mayor of Kamloops on November 15, 2008, receiving 3,147 ballots, or 74.13% of the total vote.^[7] He served three consecutive terms from 2008 to 2017, becoming the longest-serving mayor in the city's history.^[8][9] From 2006 to 2011, he also chaired the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, making him the first Kamloops mayor elected to hold that position.^[9] In 2011, Milobar was elected chair of the Thompson Regional Hospital District,^[10] a role he held until 2017.^[3]

BC Liberal/United

Milobar was elected in the 2017 provincial election as a member of the BC Liberal caucus (renamed BC United in 2023), representing the electoral district of the Kamloops-North Thompson. He was re-elected in 2020, winning by less than 200 votes.^[11] During this time, he served as the official opposition critic for Environment and Climate Change, and Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation.^[12] He was also the opposition House Leader until 2022, when he was instead named official opposition critic for Finance by incoming Liberal leader Kevin Falcon.^[13][14]

Conservative Party of BC

With BC United suspending its campaign ahead of the 2024 provincial election, Milobar instead joined the Conservative Party of British Columbia that September, running in the newly established riding of Kamloops Centre.^[15][16] He was re-elected in that October's provincial election, defeating New Democratic Party candidate Kamal Grewal by about 2,000 votes.^[11] In November 2024, Milobar was named to the official opposition's shadow cabinet as critic for Finance.^[17]

In February 2025, as a response to what he regards as residential school denialism emerging from his own party caucus, after Dallas Brodie tweeted controversial statements, he delivered some deeply personal comments in the legislature.^[18] He emphasized his background and the fact that his wife and his kids are all Indigenous, and his son-in-law is a Tk’emlúps band member. He also reaffirmed his commitment to pushing back against denialism recognizing that he would do this knowing that his comments would not be welcome in all spaces including his own party.^[18] He did concede that it was difficult for the Conservative caucus to navigate this divisive topic, but when confronted with it in his own party he pushed back and did not remain silent.^[18]

Milobar announced his campaign to replace John Rustad as leader of the Conservative Party of BC on January 16, 2026.^[19] The results were announced on May 30; Milobar was eliminated from the race after finishing last in the first ballot with 10.5% of the vote.^[20]

Independent

On August 14, 2026, Milobar announced his decision to leave the BC Conservative caucus, saying that "his values don't align with the new leader".^[21] During the leadership campaign, Kerry-Lynne Findlay faced criticism within her own party for saying Milobar had a conflict of interest when it comes to reconciliation because his wife is Indigenous.^[22][18] In response, he called Findlay's attacks "the worst side of politics possible", suggesting her victory would "give a lot of British Columbians pause for thought of whether they would actually vote for a party like this". Findlay had appointed Milobar as her finance critic in her shadow cabinet weeks prior.^[18] On August 24, Ian Paton also left the Conservative caucus and announced that he and Milobar would be founding a new party with Milobar as leader.^[23] In September 2026, fellow Conservative defectors Bruce Banman, Áʼa꞉líya Warbus, and Rosalyn Bird announced they would join Paton and Milobar in forming a new party.^[24]