Another sitting member of British Columbia’s Opposition Conservatives has announced she is leaving the caucus due to party leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay.
Boundary-Similkameen MLA Donegal Wilson said in a statement issued on social media that she will sit as an Independent, citing Findlay’s leadership since winning the contest in May as the main reason for her departure.
“I was elected as a conservative. I remain a conservative. My principles have not changed,” she said.
“What has changed is my confidence in Kerry-Lynne Findlay’s leadership.”
Wilson is the eighth party member in less than three weeks to leave the Conservative caucus since Findlay assumed leadership, after former Opposition house leader and Chilliwack-Cultus Lake MLA A’a:liya Warbus announced her departure on Monday.
Wilson cited the cancellation of an in-person caucus meeting that she said was intended to be a discussion about how to “regain trust” in the party’s leadership that has been lost through staff turnover and senior appointments.
She said Findlay’s communication with the caucus has broken down and more than one of her senior appointees “has been reported to have links to Alberta’s separatist movement.”
The MLA said she no longer believed Findlay could “bring Conservatives back together” and she could not honestly campaign for the leader, who is running to win a seat in the legislature in a byelection later this month.
“I stayed because I wanted this to work,” she added. “After three months, the dam has burst. I no longer believe she can bring Conservatives back together, rebuild trust or restore the credibility needed to defeat the NDP.”
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Wilson’s statement cited “mounting questions about alleged inducements” to secure Findlay a seat in the B.C. legislature.
She also made apparent reference to Apollo Chung, who was abruptly removed from his post as the party’s director of operations last week.
Wilson said she remains committed to “free enterprise, responsible resource development, strong rural communities, smaller and more effective government and living within our means.”
She said she will sit as an Independent MLA and will continue to serve the people of Boundary-Similkameen.
Global News has reached out to Findlay for comment.
The Conservatives issued a statement following Wilson’s announcement, saying the caucus remained focused on the work B.C. voters elected them to do, “holding the NDP government accountable and restoring prosperity for the people of this province.”
Former Conservative MLA Reann Gasper resigned from her seat in Abbotsford-Mission on Aug. 22 so Findlay could run. Gasper has since been appointed Findlay’s deputy chief of staff.
Gasper’s resignation as an MLA came after a lengthy effort by Findlay to find someone willing to quit to make way for her.
The party has been in a state of upheaval since former leadership contender Peter Milobar quit the caucus on Aug. 14.
A parade of other MLAs followed, including Delta South MLA Ian Paton who said RCMP had made an appointment to speak with him, expecting to be asked about his claim that he was offered a job as an adviser by Findlay’s chief of staff, if he would stand down as an MLA to allow Findlay to run in a byelection.
Paton said Findlay’s chief of staff Chris Delaney asked him to step down in July, saying he’d be given a job for two years with the same salary as an MLA.
“I was told I would be given some sort of a staff job as a party staffer and I would be an agriculture adviser or policy adviser,” Paton said in an interview Tuesday.
Paton rejected the offer but said he initially wasn’t aware that it could be an offence.
It is illegal under the Criminal Code to negotiate a reward or benefit related to resignation from political office.
Findlay has denied offering jobs in exchange for resignations and said suggestions that a recording released online shows she illegally did so were “preposterous.”
She said in a statement last week that the recordings were “normal political discussions” that did not constitute a criminal offence.
“Any fair-minded person listening to the recording will immediately realize that this is not a good faith allegation of wrongdoing,” she wrote.
RCMP have said they were aware of the purported recording of Findlay addressing Conservative legislators, but the force does not confirm or deny any investigation or the identity of anyone who may be subject to an investigation until charges are laid.
Wilson’s statement said she had promised herself she would “keep an open mind” and give Findlay three months to demonstrate her leadership, but the MLA “never imagined things could go this wrong, this quickly.”
The Abbotsford-Mission byelection made her decision “unavoidable,” she added.
“Remaining in caucus would mean raising money, knocking on doors and asking British Columbians to put their confidence in Kerry-Lynne Findlay,” she said.
– With files from Chuck Chiang and Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press
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