B.C. Conservatives to gather for crisis meeting on Monday after departure of five MLAs
B.C. Conservative Party Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay speaks during leadership election night in Vancouver in May.ETHAN CAIRNS/The Canadian Press
During the past provincial election, the B.C. Conservatives rose like a rocket from the ashes of a moribund party that hadn’t formed government in a century to come within a whisker of defeating the incumbent New Democrats.
But since winning 44 seats, three short of a majority, two years ago, the party has begun a self-immolation that picked up speed this month with six of its MLAs leaving to sit as Independents, citing the new leadership of Kerry-Lynne Findlay. That’s on top of four MLAs who left last year.
In all, the Official Opposition’s bench has shrunk to just 31 MLAs and the turmoil – five MLAs quit this past week – has forced a summer caucus meeting planned for Monday.
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Ian Paton describes himself and the others who left the party this month as “slightly to the right of centre.”
“We’re not these deep dark-blue conservatives far to the right that are against vaccines and MAID and abortion and all that stuff.”
After Ms. Findlay assumed the leadership of the party in June, she declared that the B.C. Conservatives would pursue a vision of “faith, family and freedom.” She swiftly brought in a new executive and communications staff.
More centrist, socially progressive members of her party say she alienated them by making moves such as leaning into culture-war rhetoric and spreading fear that the New Democrats were “dismantling” the province by transferring vast swaths of land to First Nations.
Ms. Findlay was unavailable Friday for an interview on the tumult, but the party sent The Globe and Mail an unattributed statement in which it rejected the characterization that Conservatives under her leadership have been distracted by culture-war issues.
The statement accused the MLAs who left as preferring to spend their time engaging in nasty politics and said that those who say the party has moved too far right can’t point to any policy that has actually changed.
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Mr. Paton and others say they have no confidence that Ms. Findlay, a former MP in Stephen Harper’s Conservative government, can create a credible alternative for voters despite numerous polls this year showing that NDP Premier David Eby’s support has ebbed substantially across the province.
Earlier this week, Ms. Findlay fired her director of operations without explanation. She was also forced to defend herself after an audio recording surfaced on social media of her appealing to caucus members, asking for one of them to give up their seat to allow her to win a by-election to join the legislature.
On the tape, she says she could give anyone who steps aside a senior role as a policy adviser, but in a statement Thursday she denied that she was enticing someone to leave office, which is a potential criminal offence.
“These were normal political discussions that respect the boundaries of the law and ethics,” her statement said.
The meeting Monday could decide the fate of the province’s Official Opposition as the fall session of the legislature approaches in October.
Azim Jiwani, a conservative strategist and former chief of staff to John Rustad who helped engineer the renewal of the B.C. Conservatives before the 2024 election, said it is too early to count the party out. He noted that it still enjoys a considerable provincial subsidy to help it function and still has a recognizable brand.
“Not all is lost,” he said.
He maintains that the recent spate of members leaving is because of becoming exhausted with the internal chaos, but that the Conservatives will find stability after a divisive leadership race.
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And, Mr. Jiwani says, those decrying Ms. Findlay’s focus on culture-war issues are missing the fact that these topics are proven winners.
“In fact, the Conservative Party of British Columbia came within 400 votes of forming government on a campaign that was largely driven by highly salient cultural issues, which were resonant with swing voters and swing ridings and resulted in a very efficient vote,” he said.
Other insiders are not so sure.
Business leaders and political operatives who were hopeful that the party could capitalize on a strong spring performance in the legislature have mounted an effort to swing cash and clout away from the Conservatives toward a new party to challenge the New Democrats.
Their calculus rests on well-worn West Coast political wisdom: The party that can build a “big tent” of candidates united by their loyalty to lower taxes and less regulation has traditionally formed the provincial government.
Recently, dozens of conservatives met at a downtown White Spot, according to Global News, which filmed former provincial politicians and strategists entering the restaurant.
Elenore Sturko was booted from the B.C. Conservatives last fall after a falling out with John Rustad.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
Elenore Sturko, who was booted from the party last fall after a falling out with Mr. Rustad, said she started to feel the tent pegs of the B.C. Conservatives unmooring shortly after their surprising election gains.
Ms. Sturko, an independent MLA and former RMCP officer who is gay, recalled being at a caucus meeting during a mining conference and having the discussion sidetracked from policy solutions by a two-hour debate on Pink Shirt Day – the anti-bullying school campaign.
“I don’t think I said a word because my jaw was on the ground,” Ms. Sturko said in an interview this week. “Some people felt very strongly that they couldn’t [support it] because they said that they felt being forced to wear a pink shirt was bullying.
“Instead of having a debate about natural-resources policy, we were spending time talking about pink shirts, which, honestly, if you want to wear one, wear one. If you don’t want to, no one is forcing you to do that.”
Mr. Paton, who has served as an MLA for a riding south of Vancouver for nearly a decade, left the party to sit as an Independent last Monday and plans to soon start a new centre-right party with fellow MLA Peter Milobar. Mr. Milobar competed against Ms. Findlay for the Conservative leadership of the party, but he left earlier this month.
Mr. Milobar says he has heard from a “very strong number” of former colleagues in the party who are still pondering whether to jump ship to another nascent group.
“People have hard decisions to make,” he said.