It’s been two months since Kerry-Lynne Findlay was elected as the newest leader of the Conservative Party of B.C. with the ultimate goal of one day becoming premier.
Before becoming premier Findlay has her sights set on a more immediate goal: a seat in the legislature.
“Being a trial lawyer by background, I would love to get into the debate on the floor of the legislature. I would love to be across the aisle from Premier (David) Eby, and it is my intention to lead my team in that debate and show that we are a government in waiting, and ready to take on the NDP in the next general election,” Findlay told Black Press Media in a one-on-one interview in Vancouver on Tuesday (July 28.) It was her first one-on-one interview with Black Press Media since her election in May.
In order to get that seat, Findlay needs one of her MLAs to step down, which would then trigger a byelection.
However, a byelection could be as far away as next year.
The premier can delay a byelection for up to six months. The general voting day then has to be set for a Saturday no later than 80 days after the chief election officer’s appointment.
The other issue, seemingly, is finding a riding.
Findlay told Black Press Media on Tuesday (July 28) in a one-on-one interview that that is a “certainly a live topic and that has not been determined yet.”
She said she has had conversations with members of caucus and she and her team is just “trying to figure out what and where would be best.”
She has been asked previously if her husband – and fellow B.C. Conservative – Brent Chapman would step aside to allow her to run in his Surrey South riding. Findlay pointed to his previous cancer diagnosis and said it would be “a lot for me to ask him to do that.”
The day after Black Press Media’s interview with Findlay, Jas Johal – a former B.C. Liberal MLA and journalist and current host of CKNW’s Jas Johal Show – posted to X that three MLAs have refused to step down so Findlay can run in one of their ridings in a byelection: Lynne Block (West Vancouver-Capilano), Rosalyn Bird (Prince George-Valemount) and Ian Paton (Delta South).
Block confirmed the news with Black Press Media Thursday, but said she had never spoken to Johal. She said she did take time to consider the request to step down.
“But after deep reflection, I decided that I would decline. And why? I truly love what I do,” Block said. “I worked hard to get here. I know my riding really, really well growing up here.”
Bird told CKPG Today that she wouldn’t be giving up her seat for the party leader, noting that she’s worked too hard as an MLA to sacrifice her seat.
On Thursday morning, in a statement released by the B.C. Conservatives, Paton didn’t address the allegation but instead said he would be resigning as the party’s Lower Mainland lieutenant. He was named in the role on June 30 along with other loyalists in key roles.
Paton said he was resigning because he doesn’t “have enough time to give this role the attention it deserves.” He said he came to the decision based on his responsibilities as MLA, shadow critic for the agriculture minister, the demand of running his farm and wanting to spend time with his elderly mother and grandchildren.
“This decision has nothing to do with any disagreement or dissatisfaction with the Conservative Party of British Columbia or its leadership. Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay is a longtime friend who continues to have my full support, and I remain committed to serving the people of Delta South and helping our team form government.”
Black Press Media has reached out to Bird and Paton.
Findlay says she’s on ‘good terms’ with Milobar
The day after Findlay announced her leadership team, she revealed her shadow cabinet. Among them was Kamloops Centre MLA Peter Milobar as the finance critic.
It was the month earlier, in a televised Global BC leadership debate, that Findlay faced criticism after alluding to Milobar having a conflict of interest on Aboriginal title and rights because of his wife’s connection to the Kamloops Indian Band.
Findlay denied to Black Press Media that’s what she said.
“I said, ‘do you have a conflict of interest based on her position with the band?’ which is a paid position. He has, I think, at least two family members with paid positions. That’s what I was referring to.”
During the portion of the debate focused on the natural resources sector, Findlay said that “on a conflict of interest issue, the private property rights issue is overlying all of this, and Mr. Milobar, I do not see how on the major issue of our time you will be able to get around the conflict of interest rules.”
Milobar responded: “Just say it, my wife’s Indigenous so you think I’m in conflict of interest. I’ve never heard of anything so ridiculous in my life.”
Findlay: “She also works for the Kamloops Indian Band.”
Milobar: “The last shift I think she had was about nine months ago and she worked one day as the part-time on-call receptionist where she answers the phone, so apparently that is a big gotcha moment.”
Findlay doubled down in the debate and said “I’m not worried about your family, I’m worried about your conflict of interest.”
Findlay told Black Press Media Tuesday that she has “done a lot in the Indigenous lands space as a lawyer,” with that making up 50 per cent of her practice “at one time.”
“My history and experience is that many, many people on payroll with various Indigenous bands are not, in fact, Indigenous. It has nothing to do with their Indigenous heritage. It has only to do with them being in paid positions with the band.”
Since that debate, Findlay said she and Milobar have had a “private conversation about the controversy that came out of that exchange.”
“We are on good terms with each other.”
B.C. Conservatives’ stance on private property rights
Private property rights were one of the most important issues Findlay heard during the leadership campaign, she said.
“When I was traveling around the province during the campaign, it was evident that it was the number one issue on most people’s minds,” she said. “What is their tenure on the land? What does private property entail? What’s going to happen to my equity?”
The concerns stem from an Aug. 8, 2025 Supreme Court of B.C. released a decision that the Cowichan Tribes – based in the Duncan area of Vancouver Island and B.C.’s largest First Nation – have title rights to the public lands in the Lower Mainland where it once had a semi-permanent village on the south shore of Lulu Island, within what is now the City of Richmond.
In the nearly 12 months since, that decision has caused an uproar among different groups. Premier David Eby initially proposed a suspension of parts of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA), which received pushback from the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs.
DRIPA is a 2019 B.C. law that formally commits the province to aligning its laws with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which affirms the right to self-determination for Indigenous peoples worldwide.
However, at the end of April, Eby was convinced to commit the B.C. government to jointly working with First Nations leaders to find a solution that resolves the legal jeopardy facing the province.
But as recently as Monday (July 27), the B.C. Conservatives called on Eby to recall the legislature and repeal DRIPA.
Findlay said she and all other candidates promised to repeal the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.
She said repealing DRIPA “isn’t the end of the story.” The language of DRIPA, she said, is in many pieces of legislation.
NDP links Findlay to MAGA movement
The B.C. NDP have taken opportunities to call out “some very divisive and racist and harmful abuse” from Findlay during the course of the leadership campaign and her subsequent election.
NDP MLA Jennifer Whiteside was at the May 30 leadership convention and told Black Press Media that the “pro-Trump extreme right (is) firmly in charge now” with the B.C. Conservatives.
Whiteside said Findlay failed to call out those around her who espoused very wild views, including her husband.
Chapman made some controversial and derogatory comments about Palestinians on old social media posts, which made headlines in 2024.
When the posts were brought to light, Chapman had not yet been elected as an MLA in the 2024 provincial election, while Findlay was still serving as MP. She served three terms in Parliament from 2011 to 2025, with a four-year break from 2015 to 2019 when she was beaten out by Liberal candidates.
Findlay, for her part, calls those criticisms “laughable and quite ridiculous.” She points to the fact that she was born and raised in B.C. and has lived in the province her whole life.
She said “there really is no comparison,” adding that it’s just the NDP’s way of saying “‘We don’t want you to take over government. We want to stay where we are,’ and it has no bearing on who I am as a person, what my statements have been, or the vision we have for opportunity and prosperity for British Columbians.”
Asked her opinion on U.S. President Donald Trump, Findlay said it’s important to understand Canada-U.S. trade relations. She points to her time as a federal minister (she was named Minister of National Revenue under the Stephen Harper government in 2011) that was part of a government that “concluded 51 trade deals around the world,” adding that Canada “cannot ignore the fact that the United States has been and still is our biggest trading partner.”
“What we should be showing is strength and clarity, but we should be negotiating. We shouldn’t just do this kind of ‘oh, you put a tariff on, we’ll put a tariff on.’ It’s too simplistic. We need to get to the negotiating table right now.”
She claims that Eby has made B.C. “quite irrelevant,” both in a national and interprovincial context, and in the international context, “we’re not even invited to the table.”
Findlay says Canada – and B.C. – needs to show “strength and clarity” the two countries “should be negotiating mutually beneficial trade understandings,” which she believes can happen.
“I believe that he, being the president of the United States, someone I’ve never met and don’t know if I ever will, respects strength and intelligence. And if we approached our trading relationship that way, I think we would have more respect and be invited to those negotiating tables.”
Core legislative review would be a priority as premier
Ultimately, Findlay’s goal is to become the premier of B.C. and with that would come “some significant work to do right out of the gate.
“I would like to do a core review of our fiscal situation because the last NDP budget was what I call a ‘no-hope budget.’ We’re in debt.”
The B.C. NDP presented the budget in February, slashing public-sector jobs and raising taxes and debt that was expected to soar. Budget 2026 came with a projected deficit expected to reach $13.3 billion — a roughly $3.7 billion increase from the previous year — and total debt to exceed $183 billion.
Findlay said the budget was presented with a deficit and B.C.’s has since had a downgrade in its credit rating.
She then would plan for a core legislative review.
The leader also plans to do a 30-, 60- and 90-day plan, which would give “the public something they can measure performance by and look to, to understand our successes.”
“I’m very big on finding solutions and acting, not just talking about issues. I want to show that we are a government of action.”
Working to ‘unify’ her caucus
Findlay said in the nearly two months since she was elected as leader of the Conservative Party of B.C., she has been taking “steps to unify caucus and to come to some understandings on common purpose.”
The first two to three weeks were spent meeting “with each and every MLA” and caucus to give them the time to get to know her, she said.
“I know some well, and some I don’t know as well. So we took time to get to know each other one on one. I also met with each of the other candidates in the leadership race. I thought that was important to see how they were feeling about it all and what they see moving forward.”
She had “very positive discussions all around,” Findlay said. She also described a caucus retreat in Penticton in early July as “very positive.”
Findlay has also been to Victoria and met with “some staff and, you know, just organizational things mostly.” She added that she attended the Calgary Stampede and “met with a lot of stakeholders there” and went to Quesnel for Billy Barker Days, which was “fun.”
“So that’s what I’ve really been doing.”
– With files from Mark Page, Alex Browne