Update: Soon after Canada’s National Observer published this story, CKNW reported that members of the BC Conservative Caucus had been told that a private investigator was hired to gather information about 12 people, including sitting MLAs and former party executives. The list includes Angelo Isidorou, a key architect of the party’s unexpected revival in 2022, and Amelia Boultbee, a former BC Conservative MLA who left in 2025 to sit as an Independent before joining the NDP in July.
Canada’s National Observer has asked the Conservative Party of BC for more details about the report, including whether the dossier is real, why it was commissioned and who paid for it.
Original story: The leader of the BC Conservative Party is standing firm despite at least two MLAs calling on her to quit Wednesday night. The request came after months of internal turmoil — including a possible RCMP investigation — that saw MLAs defect en masse.
Nine MLAs have departed since Kerry-Lynne Findlay took charge at the end of May, citing concerns about her leadership. But Findlay appeared undaunted by the challenge Thursday morning in her address at the annual meeting of the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM).
“I’m not leaving,” she said, prompting modest applause from the mayors, municipal councillors and provincial politicians gathered in Vancouver’s cavernous convention centre. Stepping down would betray the “27,000 party members [who] voted for me as leader,” and supported her “common sense vision for change.”
Findlay narrowly won the leadership race on promises she will boost forestry and other extractive industries, undermine reconciliation efforts and attack initiatives aimed at reducing hate against gender diversity and LGBTQ2+ people. Her promise to support BC’s “heritage industry” — forestry — in her Thursday speech drew widespread applause from the municipal representatives.
Since becoming leader, the lawyer and former federal Conservative cabinet minister leaned into her brand as a “true conservative,” hiring a suite of staffers known for their association with racist ideologues, anti-abortion activism and ties with Alberta’s separatist movement.
Two of them — former chief of staff Chris Delaney and former caucus manager Apollo Chung — left their roles after anonymous X accounts leaked damning audio recordings that allegedly included them. Canada’s National Observer couldn’t independently verify the recordings’ authenticity. A third recording, which is also unverified, allegedly caught Findlay offering caucus members a job if they gave up their seat so she could run — which would be an illegal act under Canada’s Criminal Code.
The recordings exacerbated brewing mistrust in Findlay’s leadership, precipitating a fortnight where nine MLAs jumped ship to sit as independents. Several of those MLAs have since banded together under Peter Milobar, a former BC Conservative MLA and leadership candidate, to form a new, as-yet unnamed, centre-right party.
“Any who have left our party are welcome to have a conversation about coming back — but let’s understand it has to happen now,” she said.
Findlay’s defensive posture hasn’t gone unnoticed by the ruling BC NDP. On Wednesday, BC Premier David Eby confirmed the BC NDP has hired a campaign manager, while Elections BC said it is laying the groundwork for an election, including restocking supplies and scouting voting spaces. The NDP currently has a one-seat majority, and a nearly 10-point lead in a recent Ipsos poll.
‘A cynical move’
Findlay said the potential election call is “a cynical move.”
An Angus Reid poll released Thursday put the NDP in the lead with support from 41 per cent of voters, compared to 37 per cent who support the BC Conservatives and 13 per cent backing the Greens.
“If you look at [Findlay’s] leadership, it’s just been one unmitigated disaster after another,” said Dan Knight, a BC-based conservative political commentator. “If you look at the polls, they’re really getting brutalized in terms of her favourability. This was all avoidable and not at all inevitable.”
Listening to the chatter that flew between conference attendees after Findlay’s speech, Canada’s National Observer heard frustration with Findlay’s inability to wrangle an effective conservative coalition. Yet, few seemed eager for a provincial election — especially as many are running in the province’s upcoming municipal elections.
On Thursday, Cori Ramsay, the UBCM president, asked Eby to hold back from calling a provincial election during the municipal elections, which get under way on Saturday and end on Oct. 17.
“With over 3,500 candidates competing and with a wide range of issues facing BC’s communities, residents cannot afford to be distracted from local campaigns by a snap election call,” she said.
As she ended her Thursday address, Findlay seemed eager to fight for the premier’s seat: “We’re ready to go, and we have the winning team,” she said to a standing ovation from a few dozen people in the front row seats.
As the crowd dispersed, a suit-clad man who had been seated with NDP staffers near the stage glanced at Findlay and cheered for “four more years” before strutting toward the conference hall exit.
September 17th 2026
