Less than three months after Kerry-Lynne Findlay won the party’s leadership, the honeymoon is seemingly over the B.C. Conservatives. MLAs Teresa Wat and Brennan Day jumped ship Wednesday, marking five defections over the past two weeks. “I’ve never seen anything like it in Canadian politics—a party unravelling so quickly after a new leader takes over,” said Hamish Telford, a politics professor at the University of the Fraser Valley. Day’s resignation letter cited lost confidence in the “judgment, conduct and ethical standards” of Findlay’s leadership. Wat told CTV News she quit because of alleged comments by Findlay in a chat group referring to Wat as a member of the Chinese Communist Party. “To make that kind of comment, is she fit to be the leader? Is she fit to be the premier of the province?” questioned Wat Wednesday. Findlay posted a response online, noting she intended to apologize to Wat for a second time, and calling Wat’s departure a betrayal of hardworking volunteers and voters. Meanwhile, Rosalyn Bird resigned Tuesday—saying the party was moving too far right for her liking under Findlay’s leadership. “I just got to the point where there were too many things that didn’t align with how I wanted to see things going,” she said. Findlay narrowly won the Conservative leadership race in May. She pledged to bring the party into line with true conservative values, but has alienated some previous BC Liberals. That includes Ian Paton, who announced his departure Monday flanked by Peter Milobar. The two now plan to form a new, more moderate right-of-centre party. Telford said Findlay “wanted to lead a decidedly populist B.C. Conservative party,” to the chagrin of some more moderate members. “I don’t think that is the recipe for success in B.C. politics,” he added. Also on Wednesday, Findlay fired her director of operations, Apollo Chung. Findlay wrote on social media that she instructed her chief of staff to terminate him “effective immediately,” but did not cite a reason. CTV News was told by an MLA Wednesday that prominent business leaders in the province met Wednesday afternoon to discuss options for a viable path forward for the “free enterprise” coalition on the right in B.C. politics, as they grew increasingly frustrated with the state of the B.C. Conservatives. More defections from the party are expected in the coming days.
