Angelo Isidorou appointed Doerkson’s principal secretary as Conservatives prepare for new government

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Angelo Isidorou has been named principal secretary in premier-designate Lorne Doerkson’s office, after serving as the B.C. Conservatives’ executive director and campaign manager.

The party strategist, credited with helping move the Conservatives from political obscurity to power, said he believes the party has evolved beyond what it was in 2024 without becoming the BC Liberals.

Isidorou said he sees the incoming government as a separate “Lorne Doerkson conservative party,” and contrasted the campaign message with 2024, when he said the party ran a “negative populist message.”

He also described the comparison to the BC Liberals as incorrect, saying the Conservatives did not run on a carbon tax and that they ran on a Conservative platform, including repealing the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act and ending a sexual orientation and gender identity framework for schools.

Isidorou said the party’s approach is about “tone, temperament, and how you present yourself,” adding that priorities will be communicated through “red lines” the party wants voters to share.

He said his role will be to advise the premier and chief of staff and to work wherever needed to drive the government’s legislative agenda, and he said he expects pocketbook issues to be a top focus.

Other appointments were announced Monday, including Allie Blades named deputy chief of staff, Shane Mills appointed executive director of communications, and Dimitri Pantazopoulos appointed Doerkson’s chief of staff last week.

The appointments are expected to take effect when Doerkson is sworn in as premier later this month.

The Conservatives won 64 seats in the 93-seat legislature in the province’s October snap election, and Isidorou said he briefly stepped back from strategic roles earlier this year under Kerry-Lynne Findlay before returning as chief strategist after she resigned ahead of the election.