We witnessed Kevin Falcon tell his BC United caucus that the party was suspending its campaign. It was weird.

There weren’t too many members of the local media on hand for the press conference announcing that Kevin Falcon’s BC United party would be suspending its campaign. No, most of the media got access to the news via video and called into the presser with Falcon and Conservative Party of BC leader John Rustad.

BCBusiness, however, went down to the Sheraton Wall Centre to attend in person. And when we took the elevator to the third floor of the building, we observed Rustad and his Conservative Party inner circle gathering with smiles and handshakes aplenty.

In the hallway on the other side, however, we couldn’t help but notice Kevin Falcon openly addressing his BC United MLAs loudly via video call.

“It won’t feel great today… we have a large debt that we have to pay off as a party,” said Falcon to his more than 20 BCU MLAs. He made the claim multiple times that his goal coming into the party leadership was always to get the NDP out of government and that the party dissolving and throwing its support behind the Conservatives was the best way to do that.

It was strange, for sure, to see Falcon, who booted Rustad out of the party’s caucus just over two years ago, tell his party that their best option would be to give up and maybe, potentially, run with the Conservatives.

“I sat down with John and negotiated the deal,” he said. “I said that we have outstanding candidates and you have some problematic ones. I’ll speak to all willing MLAs and I’ll be candid and honest about what I heard. Those who want that opportunity will be given it. They have to field the best possible team, that means going seat by seat and saying, ‘is this the best possible candidate?’”

He went on to say that there will be opportunities to run for those who want them, though it might not be the exact seat they are occupying or that they want. Falcon also took responsibility when it came to the decision, saying, “I will accept all the bullets. This is based on thousands and thousands of conversations with supporters. I will fight for all of you as best I can. I will phone each and every one of you. I love of all you, I mean this sincerely.”

And then he said that he had to leave immediately and tried not to answer any questions. However, West Vancouver-Capilano MLA Karin Kirkpatrick interjected before he could leave and said that Falcon shouldn’t be speaking on their behalf and should instead resign as leader.

In response Falcon said “I won’t be doing that. I have the right to do this,” explaining that the party’s board supported him on the decision.

Then he left into an adjacent room as a staffer held the laptop up and closed the video call while caucus members could be heard expressing their disappointment.

And… that was that. Falcon came out of the room some 10 minutes later and was all smiles when he joined Rustad and his crew to make the official announcement.

That’s how the party formerly known as the BC Liberals—the party with more premiers than any other party in B.C. history—met its end. Not with a bang or a whimper. But with a video call.