Kerry-Lynne Findlay, former MP for South Surrey—White Rock, has been elected as the new leader of the B.C. Conservative Party.
She won with 51 per cent of the votes.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO 1130 NEWSRADIO VANCOUVER LIVE!Commentator and candidate Caroline Elliott placed second in the close race on Saturday.
Findlay says she will be fighting for nothing less than British Columbians’ way of life, and promises what she calls a “grand vision of fundamental change.”
The former federal revenue minister says she will cut taxes and red tape, return B.C.’s budget to surplus, and help the province recover from economic stagnation.
She says B.C. will become strong again after accusing the province’s NDP government of blocking good-paying jobs, modern infrastructure, and resource wealth.
“NDP radical ideology has devastated property rights, backroom side agreements, and the NDP’s economic vandalism has to end,” she said in her victory speech.
Findlay says her future Conservative government will emphasize faith, family, and freedom.
“Free people making free choices and free speech in a free enterprise market economy,” she added.
Political expert analyzes political vacuum in centre
Hamish Telford, an associate professor of political science at the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV), says that Findlay’s election does not represent a “consensus choice.”
“The BC Conservatives look divided tonight. Kerry-Lynne Findlay’s strategy of going hard right paid off for her. We do know that conservative voters are very animated and mobilize these days, and they came through for her,” he said in an interview with 1130 NewsRadio.
He adds that the choice for a right-of-centre candidate creates a vacuum in the middle of the B.C. political spectrum.
“What we have now in B.C. is the NDP on the left and what we used to call the other party in B.C politics, centre right; there isn’t a centre right party. Now, there is a right party that gives the NDP a lot of space to move into the centre,” Telford explained.
“And I think it puts BC Liberals in a real conundrum. I think the NDP is going to be courting liberal minded voters assiduously and to see if they will come over to their side.”
Telford argues that the outcome of Saturday’s vote is the ideal scenario for the governing NDP.
“It sets up a real contrast; it forces centre-right voters to make a decision. Are they going to go far right or come to the NDP? And we saw a bit of that in the last election where there were Liberal voters that couldn’t vote for John Rustad. Assuming that Kerry Lynn Finley leads the way she campaigned, I suspect that could happen again.”
One problem the new leader faces is that she has no seat in the B.C. Legislature. Telford says that Findlay’s husband, MLA Brent Chapman, could step down to trigger a by-election in which she could run.
He adds that Findlay’s election could set the stage for a “spicy” time in B.C. politics.
And Telford might not be wrong about that, as the BC NDP has already reacted to Findlay’s win.
Candidates had to pay $100,000 to join the race
The other candidates, current MLA Peter Milobar, entrepreneur Yuri Fulmer, and former MLA Iain Black were eliminated in the three previous ballot counts.
All five candidates had to pay more than $100,000 to join the race.
Ballots were sent out earlier this month and about 26,000 verified members had until Friday to rank their candidates in a preferred vote, with the party’s executive director saying Thursday that 95 per cent had voted.
Under John Rustad’s leadership, the party emerged from obscurity to come within about 30,000 votes of winning the 2024 provincial election.
Infighting fractured the caucus and reduced Conservative members in the legislature by five, and eventually led to Rustad’s expulsion in December.
The new leader will be announced at the party’s leadership convention in Vancouver.
A sixth former Conservative, Hon Chan, was removed from the caucus this year after it emerged he had been charged with assault in a case of alleged intimate partner violence.
– With files from The Canadian Press.