Kerry-Lynne Findlay Pulls BC Conservatives to the Right

The election of Kerry-Lynne Findlay as the new leader of the Conservative Party of BC signals that party members have firmly rejected the more centrist vision put forward by current and former MLAs Peter Milobar and Iain Black in favour of a loud and proud social conservatism.

During her leadership campaign, Findlay touted her experience as a cabinet member in Stephen Harper’s government but also made opposing Indigenous rights and ending SOGI — sexual orientation and gender identity inclusive education — central planks in her pitch to party members.

“We can be a powerhouse in our nation, a powerhouse no longer denied by eastern and global elites, predatory foreign nations and our own constitution,” Findlay told Conservative Party of BC members in her acceptance speech.

Several recent court decisions have put the spotlight on Indigenous rights and title in British Columbia and raised fears that private property rights could be under threat, although experts and First Nations have said those fears are overblown.

All five Conservative candidates had promised to end the province’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, or DRIPA. Findlay had gone further, questioning whether her leadership opponent Milobar would be in a potential conflict of interest on future decisions involving First Nations because he has family members who are Indigenous.

In her speech, Findlay doubled down on the issue.

“The NDP’s radical ideology has devastated property rights, backroom-signed treaties, and the NDP’s economic vandalism has to end,” she said.

Jennifer Whiteside, the BC NDP’s minister of labour, attended the Conservative leadership vote announcement and told reporters that Findlay had run a campaign based on “division and racism.”

“I think with this result the pro-Trump, extreme-right part of the party is firmly in control,” Whiteside said.

“She made comments about her colleagues that were racist in nature; she called out Peter Milobar because his wife is Indigenous.”

Findlay told reporters she’s used to that line of attack from the BC NDP.

“They’re going to say what they say. I believe the NDP are the ideologues — they’re the extremists,” Findlay said.

Warren Hamm, a Conservative Party of BC member who initially ran for the leadership before backing candidate Yuri Fulmer, said he fully supports Findlay as the new leader. Hamm said he believes the swing to the right is a reaction to the "pendulum that's swung so far to the left."

Hamm said that more centrist voters who want an alternative to the BC NDP need to "be truthful with themselves" about the choices in front of them.

"In this province the NDP always seems to get a default 30 per cent vote... so Conservatives, and others that might be further to the left within that party that don't believe in what the NDP has been doing to destroy our province, we're going to have to come together to get a win."

The B.C. Conservative leadership contest attracted five candidates: current Conservative MLA Peter Milobar; Iain Black, a former cabinet minister in Gordon Campbell’s BC Liberal government; restaurant owner and investor Fulmer; Caroline Elliott, a former legislative staffer in Campbell’s government and BC Hydro employee; and Findlay.

The leadership race followed a tumultuous period for the party. After being revamped by younger members who had taken over the party’s board in 2022, the Conservative Party of BC overtook the more established centre-right party BC United in polling results and donations in the months before the 2024 provincial elections.

Many of the Conservative MLA candidates came under scrutiny for racist, far-right, anti-vaccine or conspiracy comments they’d made in the past. That included Findlay’s own husband, Brent Chapman, whose history of posting Islamophobic and racist content was unearthed during his election campaign.

Findlay, the Conservative member of Parliament for South Surrey-White Rock until she lost her seat in the 2025 federal election, told The Tyee she and Chapman had met recently with Muslim leaders in their community.

“I’ve had three meetings with the amazing Muslim community in my riding as recently as a few nights ago, and I had a lot of Muslim supporters voting for me, which I love, because they know I believe in interfaith co-operation — I believe in freedom of religion,” she said. “And Brent was at two of those three events.”

The B.C. Conservatives fell short of forming government in the 2024 election but did become the official Opposition for the first time in the history of the party.

Almost immediately, the party came under strain. Five former Conservative MLAs have now left the party — Dallas Brodie, MLA for Vancouver-Quilchena, was expelled after she mocked residential school survivors, while Elenore Sturko and Amelia Boultbee left after they said they experienced a toxic work environment perpetuated by leader John Rustad.

Rustad was forced out of the party in December, replaced by interim leader Trevor Halford.

Findlay said she would be having discussions with all of those former Conservative MLAs. She also said she’ll be meeting with the caucus to discuss possible plans for her to win a seat in the legislature.

As he kicked off announcing the leadership vote results on Saturday, Halford said the number of serious candidates and high percentage of members who cast a vote showed that the party has a robust future. He added that recent polls show support for the Conservatives is growing.