Kerry-Lynne Findlay resigned as the leader of the BC Conservatives on Sunday, stepping down after just 113 days in the role following the membership vote in May.
Her decision to resign came after mounting calls from MLAs who left party caucus and several decisions she herself said she would have made differently “with the benefit of hindsight.”
But how did the party that elected her get to the point it has no party leader? As the prospect of a snap election looms over the province, here is what led to Findlay’s resignation.
May 30, 2026: Kerry-Lynne Findlay is voted in as the new leader, receiving 51 per cent of the vote after four rounds of voting. Caroline Elliott comes in second with 49 per cent.
June 30: Findlay appoints several loyalists to key positions, naming Heather Maahs as interim leader of the Official Opposition, replacing Trevor Halford. She also appoints Steve Kooner and Anna Kindy, who endorsed Findlay during the leadership race, as “lieutenant” positions for stakeholder relations and Vancouver Island respectively.
July: Several high-profile Conservative staff depart or are let go from the party, including Dion Weisner as director of research, and the BC Conservatives’ executive director Angelo Isidorou, who resigned. The former said he was let go by the caucus chief of staff, but that “ultimately everything” was at Findlay’s direction. He also claimed there had been a 50 per cent turnover of caucus staff since Findlay came to power. Isidorou said he was leaving on “amicable and mutual terms.”
July 29: Rosalyn Bird, MLA for Prince George-Valemount, says she was asked to step down to give Findlay the chance to run for a seat in the B.C. legislature. West-Vancouver Capilano MLA Lynne Block and Delta South MLA Ian Paton say they also rejected requests.
Aug. 14: Peter Milobar announces he is quitting the BC Conservative caucus to sit as an independent and cites a lack of alignment with Findlay.
Aug. 22: Reann Gasper resigns from the party caucus to give Findlay the chance to run for a seat. Questions are raised when Findlay says Gasper will become her deputy chief of staff.
Aug. 24: Ian Paton leaves caucus to sit as an independent, but also announces he plans to form a new centre-right political party with Milobar.
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Aug. 25: Rosalyn Bird says she will sit as an independent, saying the party was moving too far to the right than she would like.
Aug. 26: Teresa Wat and Brennan Day both announce they will sit as independents. Wat accused Findlay of reneging on a promise to apologize over “serious and unfounded accusations” made by the leader about Wat, calling her “CCP” in reference to the Chinese Communist Party. Wat said she could not stay in a party whose leader questioned her loyalty to Canada. Day said he had lost confidence in the judgment, conduct and ethical standards of Findlay’s leadership and those around her.
Aug. 27: Bruce Banman becomes the seventh MLA to resign from caucus, and sixth to criticize Findlay in their departure. He said Findlay was “unelectable” and urged other MLAs to join him.
Aug. 28: Audio recording surfaces on social media of Findlay allegedly offering “senior advisor” role to any MLA who would resign so she can run to enter legislature. Findlay called it “preposterous.” The B.C. RCMP say they’re aware of the purported recording. It is illegal under the Criminal Code to negotiate a reward or benefit related to resignation from political office. Findlay said a caucus meeting would be held Aug. 30.
Aug. 29: A byelection is called for Reann Gasper’s now vacant seat of Abbotsford-Mission. Findlay said she would run for the party in the vote.
Aug. 30: Findlay cancels the caucus meeting and the planned news conference set for Aug. 31.
Aug. 31: Áʼa꞉líya Warbus leaves caucus, saying she’s lost confidence in the party under Findlay. She cited the cancellation of the caucus meeting and Gasper’s resignation to make way for Findlay among her reasons.
Sept. 1: Ian Paton says he’s been asked to speak to the RCMP. He said he suspects it’s about his allegation chief of staff Chris Delaney allegedly said if Paton stepped down so Findlay could run, he’d be given an advisory position.
Sept. 2, 2026: Donegal Wilson and Scott McInnis leave the party, both citing Findlay’s leadership. The BC Conservative leader says Chris Delaney has resigned as her chief of staff and has appointed Reann Gasper as his replacement. She also says she’s the victim of a “co-ordinated political attack.”
Sept. 4: Rosalyn Bird, Bruce Banman and Áʼa꞉líya Warbus all announce they are joining Peter Milobar and Ian Paton in the new provincial party. Teresa Wat has also joined.
Sept. 14: Donegal Wilson says she’s joining Milobar’s party.
Sept. 15: A new poll by Ipsos finds support for the BC Conservatives under Findlay sitting at 35 per cent, down eight points from the 2024 provincial election and 10 points behind the BC NDP.
Sept. 17: BC Conservative MLAs and former executives, along with a Victoria reporter, confirm they have been informed they were the subject of a private investigator hired by a former senior Conservative party official. The same day, Findlay says in a speech she is not going anywhere.
Sept. 18: Former BC Conservative member Peter Milobar is named new leader of the CentreBC party, with six other former Conservative MLAs who have left in the past two months joining him. The same day, Findlay says she’s removed former leader John Rustad, former interim leader Trevor Halford, and MLA Claire Rattee from the party caucus.
Sept. 20: The removal of three MLAs prompts Linda Hepner, MLA for Surrey-Serpentine River, to leave the caucus.
A few hours after Hepner leaves caucus, Findlay resigns as Conservative leader, saying “too much of our time and attention has been consumed by internal conflict.” She says she will still run for the party in the Abbotsford-Mission byelection. MLA Lorne Doerkson is named as interim leader.
The B.C. NDP caucus met late Sunday to discuss Findlay’s resignation amid the ongoing speculation of an early election call.
—with files from Global News’ Amy Judd and The Canadian Press
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