A look at how the B.C. Conservative party finally ousted its leader after four turbulent months
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By Saturday afternoon, Kerry-Lynne Findlay’s time as the leader of the B.C. Conservatives was all but over, as she faced pressure from caucus, her party’s board and deep-pocketed business leaders to resign.
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The board was unhappy about a fall in party memberships and the drying up of party fundraising, while business leaders were withholding donations over concerns about the direction Findlay was taking the party and whether she could defeat the NDP in a snap election, Postmedia has learned.
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Unlike past resignations, it appears there were no sit-down meetings, but rather a flurry of phone calls that led to Findlay’s announcement Sunday that she would quit as leader.
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Sunrise
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That paved the way for former leaders John Rustad and Trevor Halford, as well as Columbia River-Revelstoke MLA Scott McInnis, Surrey-Serpentine River MLA Linda Hepner, and Skeena MLA Claire Rattée to announce on Monday their return to the B.C. Conservative party after being invited back by the interim leader, Lorne Doerkson.
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“Last week was a hard week. Caucus spoke frankly, as a caucus should. Kerry-Lynne Findlay then made a difficult decision. That decision was hers. I respect it. I am not going back over the rest,” said Rustad.
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“Lorne Doerkson is now interim leader of the official Opposition. He is a quality individual. A lot of people in this province do not know him yet. They will.
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“He asked me to come back to caucus. This afternoon I accepted. I am returning to do the work, not to run the next chapter from the outside.”
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He also said that “there have been talks about bringing Conservatives and CentreBC back together. Those talks should succeed.”
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The dramatic developments came as the likelihood grew of a snap election call by Premier David Eby as early as Tuesday. That was highlighted Monday by the NDP announcing it had resumed planning for Phase 2 of the Burnaby Hospital redevelopment, a project it shelved earlier this year as cost estimates soared way over budget.
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“The political environment in Victoria is unstable, and speculation around an early election call is mounting,” Doerkson said in an email to members asking for donations.
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“When that call comes, our groundwork must already be finished. A snap election leaves zero lead time, which means our infrastructure, candidate support networks, and messaging must be ready to fire.”
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Doerkson has scheduled a news conference for Tuesday.
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Postmedia spoke to six individuals with knowledge of the hours leading up to Findlay’s departure, including MLAs, former staffers and others. Individuals were given permission to speak on background in order to speak freely.
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There had been months of controversy under Findlay including the departure of 10 MLAs, the gutting of party and caucus staff, and the firing or resignation of Findlay’s hand-picked executive director over allegations of misuse of party funds, her chief of staff over allegations of racism and her operations director over launching a private investigation of its own staffers and MLAs.
