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4th BC Conservative member quits party in past three days

Click to play video: 'Another BC Conservative MLA leaves caucus and likely isn’t the last'
Another BC Conservative MLA leaves caucus and likely isn’t the last
The BC Conservative caucus continues to shrink as another MLA announces she is leaving the party to sit as an independent. Teresa Wat joins a growing list of others doing the same in the past two weeks. Ben O'Hara-Byrne has the details.

A fourth MLA has announced they are quitting the BC Conservative Party to sit as an Independent.
Brennan Day has become the fourth B.C. Conservative legislator to quit the party in three days.

Day, who represents Courtenay-Comox, says in a statement he’s lost confidence in party leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay’s judgement, conduct and ethics.

He joins Teresa Wat, MLA for Richmond Bridgeport, who announced on social media on Wednesday morning that she can “no longer serve as a member of the BC Conservative Caucus under the leadership of Kerry-Lynn Findlay.”

This comes after Rosalyn Bird announced she was leaving the party on Tuesday, joining MLAs Ian Paton and Peter Milobar as recent defectors.

Click to play video: 'Political focus on Abbotsford-Mission'
Political focus on Abbotsford-Mission

Wat said that on July 29, it was reported that during the BC Conservative leadership campaign, Findlay “was alleged to have made serious and unfounded accusations about me, including remarks that called my allegiance to Canada into question.”

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“These remarks were distasteful, hurtful and made me question my place in the BC Conservatives under her leadership.”

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Wat said that afterwards she had a brief conversation with Findlay, “who did not apologize and wanted to focus on what’s ahead of us.”

She said she decided to try and move home, but when she returned from travelling, she had friends and people from the community reach out saying they were shocked by the allegations and that there had been no apology.

“I realized that these allegations had caused real damage to my reputation and had created serious concern within the community,” Wat wrote.

“Following an exchange with Ms. Findlay and her Chief of Staff earlier this week, I was told an apology and clarification would be issued. To date, no statement has been issued.”

Wat said that she now believes all the progress made under the BC Conservative Party is at risk.

Click to play video: 'Another BC Conservative MLA defects'
Another BC Conservative MLA defects

On Wednesday morning, Findlay announced she has terminated her director of operations, Apollo Chung.

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“As of this morning, I have directed my Chief of Staff to terminate the Director of Operations for the B.C. Conservative Caucus, effective immediately,” she said in a statement.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Findlay said she expects more people to leave the party caucus.

One expert said that what is happening right now is unprecedented.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in Canadian politics,” Hamish Telford, an associate professor of political science at the University of the Fraser Valley, said.

“Usually when a leadership race is over, and a leader is duly elected, he or she calls for unity and at least makes overtures to try and sustain unity – reaching out to his or her adversaries, putting them in important positions, recognizing that the other leadership candidates have deep roots in the party and lots of supporters.”

Telford said Findlay seems to have gone “out of her way” to alienate other leadership contestants and people in the party who she disagrees with.

“Ive never seen a party unravel so quickly after a leadership race before,” he added.

-with files from The Canadian Press

More to come.

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