As the dust settles on the B.C. Conservative leadership race, one of the first tasks for party Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay is to figure out how to secure a seat in the legislature for herself through a byelection.
But she’ll need a seat to open up.
On Tuesday, former party leader John Rustad didn’t rule out stepping down himself to clear a path for her in a safe riding. Rustad represents Nechako Lakes in Northern B.C., which he won handily, defeating the NDP’s Murphy Abraham 67.5 per cent to 27.2 per cent.
“I don’t know,” he said in an interview with Black Press Media when asked if he would step down. “We’ll have to see what her thoughts are.”
She was asked immediately after her victory about the idea of her husband, Brent Chapman, who is recovering from cancer, stepping down as Surrey South MLA. She left that possibility open too, saying she and Chapman would have those discussions.
Rustad points out that he is the only sitting Conservative MLA with cabinet experience (from his time in the B.C. Liberal government), but says he is willing to do what he can to help out in caucus and see how the “conversations go” with Findlay.
The new leader’s other task is to reintegrate party factions after a contentious leadership campaign. This will likely require some diplomacy.
“She’s got a good opportunity here to pull us together and to make sure that we have a united front,” Rustad said.
Conservative MLAs on the centre right ideologically seem willing to hope for the best and give Findlay that chance..
“Those divisions get pronounced during a leadership race,” Kelowna Mission MLA Gavin Dew said, “but the real test moving forward we have is whether the leader and the caucus and all the other people in the party can summon the goodwill to do what’s right for the party and what’s right for the people of British Columbia.”
Dew had backed Kamloops Centre MLA Peter Milobar, who ran as a centre-right, “free enterprise” candidate with support from at least nine sitting caucus members, but who lost on the first ballot with 10.5 per cent of the vote.
Milobar sought to tamp down speculation about division after his loss.
“The assumption by media and the broader public that there are massive rifts within caucus has been greatly overstated,” he said.
Milobar said now is the time to “take a breath and refocus.”
With Findlay at the reins, at least one former Conservative, now Independent, MLA is definitely not rejoining the party — but might form one of her own.
Surrey-Cloverdale MLA Elenore Sturko said she feels “politically homeless” with Findlay and her “extremely socially conservative” stances at the helm of her former party.
“I have no plan or desire to go back to the Conservatives,” she said. “They haven’t asked me, nor did I expect them to ask me.”
Sturko is now weighing whether to form a fourth caucus.
“It only takes two people to have official party status in the legislature,” she said when asked about the possibility of joining forces with fellow Independent Amelia Boultbee under a new banner.
She also says she has received “lots of communications” from individuals who have cancelled Conservative Party memberships in the wake of Findlay’s victory.
Sturko’s could be a new party, or one that already exists.
“I haven’t taken anything off the table,” she said.
She points out that B.C. United, which withdrew all candidates from the 2024 election in a deal between party Leader Kevin Falcon and Rustad, is still a registered party. And there is also Centre B.C., founded by former United MLA Karin Kirkpatrick.
“There are a number of different people out there exploring their options and seeing what the possibilities are and if there’s an appetite with enough people and enough support to do something,” Sturko said.
One option she does not want to pursue is to go the other way and join the NDP.
“I’m not aligned with [Premier] David Eby’s radical ideologies,” she said.
Eby, for his part, said he would be “happy to have those conversations” with anyone in the legislature willing to work with his party, which holds a razor-thin one-vote majority and has had difficulty pushing through some parts of its agenda.
He also took his first shot at the new leader, tying her to U.S. President Donald Trump by calling her a “MAGA regional manager” while trying to drive the wedge between her and more moderate Conservatives.
“She is far right, she is extreme,” he said. “I know that she is divisive.”