Two more sitting members of British Columbia’s Opposition Conservatives have announced they are 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:líya 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.”
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.”
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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.
Just hours after MLA Wilson quit, another member announced his resignation.
MLA Scott McInnis said in a post on social media that he will serve the riding of Columbia River-Revelstoke as an Independent.
Under the leadership of Findlay, McInnis said the Conservative Party has become an “exclusive private club more concerned with ideological bona fides than building the broad coalition required to serve British Columbians and form government.”
McInnis said he has become increasingly concerned with decisions about staffing, senior appointments and the general direction of the party.
“Competent and experienced staff have been fired, serious ethical questions have accumulated around members of the Leader’s senior team, and reported connections to Alberta separatism – an issue which is extremely contentious in Columbia River-Revelstoke which shares a 200 km border with Alberta – and matters involving the RCMP have only added to those concerns,” he said.
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.
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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.
Just minutes after Wilson and McInnis announced they were leaving the party, Delaney also gave his resignation.
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.
“I cannot do that.”
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BC Conservatives in turmoil as MLA exodus grows -
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Bruce Banman resigns from BC Conservative and calls on party leader to resign -
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BC Conservative leader faces questions over leaked audio as caucus numbers dwindle -
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Byelection called for Abbotsford-Mission riding after Reann Gasper resignation -
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Another BC Conservative MLA leaves caucus and likely isn’t the last -
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Another BC Conservative MLA defects -
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More turmoil for the BC Conservative Party -
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Good news and bad news for BC Conservative leader -
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Abbotsford-Mission MLA steps down to make way for BC Conservative leader to seek seat -
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B.C. Conservatives face internal turmoil
– With files from Chuck Chiang and Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press
Doug Bob’s level of desperation is at code red critical now that he realizes that his heroes NAZl Dallas Brodie and MAGA Karen-Lynne Findlay have zero chance of winning an election in BC 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
“Jay Voorhees
September 2, 2026 at 6:27 pm
Uhh ohhhh I am having another temper tantrum in the Global comment section again.”
You can’t beat me in an argument so you just copy my name as say “No you”. Thanks for proving what a desperate moron you are 🤣🤣
Social conservative beta cucks crying!!
And for those who think there’s hope and more ” tools in the shed ” to fill these spots. Look in the cupboard….there’s nothing but a can of expired soup and some baking soda….I think Tim Hortons is hiring.?! Scratch that….you might not qualify there either?! Try highway trash cleanup first…then work your way up !
Uhh ohhhh I am having another temper tantrum in the Global comment section again.
“Bob B
September 2, 2026 at 5:49 pm
Same thing happened last election and the NDP only won by a total of 340 votes split over three ridings. I am not too worried given the NDPs performance over the last two years.
The multiplication error in their lastest budget wrongly boasted revenues by $1.5 billion .
How incompetent do you have to be to not realise that?
$1.46 billion to $1.5 billion budget forecasting error over five years, driven by basic mathematical mistakes that artificially inflated natural gas plant inlet prices by 76% to more than 100% (roughly a factor of 1.75 to 2x).
No surprise really.”
Oh look now Doug Bob is posting under one of his aliases but of course we all know it’s him because he goes on and on about some random bullshlt that makes no sense whatsoever and then posts a bunch of numbers that mean absolutely nothing LOL
Uhh ohhhh Doug Brekfaust is having another temper tantrum in the Global comment section again. Someone call the Waaaambulance ASAP. His hero MAGA NAZl Karen-Lynne Findlay is already getting destroyed by the Liberals and NDP and the provincial election is still 2 years away LOL. Better watch out or Doug is going to start talking about the imaginary center-right party that’s going to save the day and irradicate the evil immigrants and First Nations that are destroying BC even though BC is consistently ranked one of the best places to live in the world 😂😂
Same thing happened last election and the NDP only won by a total of 340 votes split over three ridings. I am not too worried given the NDPs performance over the last two years.
The multiplication error in their lastest budget wrongly boasted revenues by $1.5 billion .
How incompetent do you have to be to not realise that?
$1.46 billion to $1.5 billion budget forecasting error over five years, driven by basic mathematical mistakes that artificially inflated natural gas plant inlet prices by 76% to more than 100% (roughly a factor of 1.75 to 2x).
No surprise really.
The Chung audio tapes are chilling. How could anyone possibly support this group us beyond me. The past thing any party in BC needs to have is ties to the Ablerta separatists.
This is the worst news site on the internet with the biggest ashole commenters anywhere
Conservatives BAHAHAHA BAHAHAHA BAHAHAHA BAHAHAHA.
At Ed,
I am not so sure. IMO these independents and CenterBC will steal more votes from the NDP than the conservatives. I think the only reason the NDP survived last election is that a lot of people couldn’t stomach voting for a kook like Rustad.
I have no love for Eby and the NDP but the conservatives need to move more towards the center if they want to capture more votes.
If Findlay actually has any brains at all she won’t run candidates in these ridings and just make a deal for a minority government. These groups are close enough in platform to make that work.
Another angry liberal, no surprise there.
At some point these leaders both preaching far left and far right ideals need to realize that they only represent that 25% of the population. The vast majority of us sit somewhere middle-ish and just want good governance, value for our taxes, fairness across society and limited social and idealogical agendas.
Just get the basics working for staters. Economy, Infrastructure, Health and Education. That’s enough for me .
The Conservative voter of B.C. voted for KLF’s leadership. Ex B.C. United/Liberals can go and pout somewhere else. Many worthy candidates to take their place.
Draining the swamp of “conservative” liberals. See yah!!
Findlay has been a disaster. She needs to step aside before things get even worse.
Way to go. The Conservatives have shot themselves in the foot again to guarantee another win for the NDP. Eby doesn’t have to do a thing but sit back and smile.
Findlay was always a strange choice to lead the Conservatives, it shows that they don’t quite understand the people of BC. We desperately need a good alternative to the NDP; the Conservatives are going to collapse and will have to rebrand once again. The sooner that happens, the better. If politics are a measure of our collective intelligence then we are definitely getting dumber at an alarming rate.