Kerry-Lynne Findlay says an internal leadership fight has kept the BC Conservatives from focusing on challenges facing the province, and she is stepping down immediately.
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Kerry-Lynne Findlay has resigned as leader of the Conservative Party of British Columbia, effective immediately, citing the impact of internal conflict on the party’s ability to serve as a credible opposition to the BC NDP government.
In a statement released Sunday, Sept. 20, Findlay said the leadership battle had become a continuing distraction from the work she believes British Columbians expect a strong opposition to do. Her departure as leader came after months of instability for the party, including repeated caucus departures.
Findlay will remain the Conservative candidate in the byelection on Sept. 26 for the riding of Abbotsford-Mission, a seat vacated by MLA Reann Gasper about a month earlier. The vacancy created a path for Findlay to enter the B.C. legislature, according to the statement.
The Conservative leadership contest that brought Findlay to the top lasted just under four months before her resignation. She narrowly defeated Caroline Elliott during a highly contested leadership race, but Findlay said that rather than building momentum with voters, internal disputes consumed too much of the party’s attention.
Her resignation follows several developments inside the caucus. The turmoil escalated on Friday when Findlay announced the removal of Trevor Halford, Claire Rattee, and John Rustad from the Conservative caucus, framing the move as necessary for the party to concentrate on preparing for a possible election and defeating the NDP.
The party’s instability continued into Saturday, with Surrey-Serpentine River MLA Linda Hepner reportedly quitting caucus earlier Sunday hours before Findlay’s resignation announcement. Hepner’s stated reasoning, as reported in the material, was connected to the most recent expulsions from caucus.
Findlay also addressed changes in the party’s support in opinion polling. The material cites an Angus Reid Institute survey released in early May that had the BC Conservatives leading the BC NDP by 10 points, followed by a shift in a later survey this month in which the NDP led at 41 per cent support compared with 37 per cent for the Conservatives.
At the same time, the material says views of the NDP government remained mixed: the latest survey indicated 47 per cent of respondents thought the BC NDP was doing a poor job governing, while 39 per cent said it was positive. It also notes Findlay did not tie the polling shift to a single cause, but she acknowledged that decisions she made as leader are decisions she would make differently with the benefit of hindsight.
In her statement, Findlay said she takes responsibility for decisions that were hers to make, and she pointed to personal costs of the conflict, saying family members are affected by what is written and said publicly. She argued that attacks on character and family, along with threats directed at individuals, cross a line.
Findlay urged the party to work together and give her successor an opportunity to rebuild. While her resignation clears the way for a transition in leadership, the material says it remains unclear who would serve as interim leader or how a permanent successor would be selected.
The resignation comes as political speculation continues about whether Premier David Eby could call an early provincial election. It also notes Eby has faced criticism from municipal leaders over concerns that a snap election would overlap with the Oct. 17 civic vote across British Columbia, potentially disrupting municipal campaigning. The immediate significance for Vancouver-area and province-wide readers is that leadership uncertainty for the BC Conservatives is now unfolding alongside a potentially compressed electoral timeline and an upcoming byelection in Abbotsford-Mission on Sept. 26.
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