‘Implosion’: Warbus is seventh B.C. Conservative to quit caucus, blaming Findlay

A’a:liya Warbus says she’d be “worried” if there isn’t mounting frustration with B.C. Conservative Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay among her former colleagues, after Warbus became the seventh MLA this month to the exit the party’s caucus.

Warbus, who said she would sit as an Independent, issued a statement on Monday partly attributing her decision to cancellation of a caucus meeting she said had been called due to concern about last week’s “implosion” that saw a near daily parade of legislators depart the official provincial opposition.

She said in an interview that the cancellation of the meeting that had been planned for Monday was “a huge blow and a major part” of her decision to leave the Conservatives.

“The decision to postpone today’s caucus meeting for a month reflects the lack of value being placed on caucus members and their opinions,” she said in her statement.

“It is one thing to ask for people’s trust, and quite another to blindfold someone and expect faith alone to substitute for transparency and accountability.”

The Chilliwack-Cultus Lake MLA also said in her statement she was concerned about the circumstances surrounding the resignation from the legislature of Reann Gasper to make way for Findlay to stand in a byelection.

“Those questions and those conversations need to be happening inside of caucus, and today was our opportunity to have those conversations,” Warbus said of the cancelled meeting.

Warbus, a member of the Sto:Lo First Nation, had been one of the Opposition’s most prominent legislators as its only Indigenous MLA and as former House leader.

She said in her interview there had been an “unacceptable” lack of communication from Findlay to the caucus.

“If I’m feeling it, others must be feeling it as well,” Warbus said, although she said she wasn’t sure if others would follow her exit.

“If there isn’t frustration, I would be worried. I can only guess that it’s mounting, but in terms of direct conversations and getting a feel for how people are reacting today, I have no idea.”

But she added that she was in “daily conversations” with people still in the caucus and others who had left.

The Conservatives have been in a state of upheaval over the ideological direction and strategies of the party under Findlay since Peter Milobar quit on Aug. 14, saying they had a lack of “ideological alignment.”

Ian Paton, Rosalyn Bird, Teresa Wat, Brennan Day and Bruce Banman followed last week, all critical of Findlay.

Warbus said she sent a notice of resignation to Findlay but had not spoken to her. She said there had not been “the same level of fluid interaction between the leadership team and the staff and MLAs” that she expected.

“I think the main example I can give is finding out from a post on X or from media that a main director is being fired, or that critical staff is being let go, or that there are important meetings and decisions being made at a party level,” Warbus said.

She contrasted that with communications under former leader John Rustad, saying he had once called a 6 a.m. caucus meeting to tell MLAs something face to face.

“That’s how that operated then. That is not the same thing, the same way, that things are operating today.”

Findlay, who has said she will focus on “faith, family and freedom,” was narrowly elected party leader on May 30 but does not have a seat in the legislature.

She did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Warbus said she had not decided whether to join any party formed by former Conservatives; Paton and Milobar have said they hope to have a new party running by the fall sitting of the legislature.

Warbus and others have expressed concern about how Gasper came to resign her seat of Abbotsford-Mission.

It is illegal under the Criminal Code to negotiate a reward or benefit related to resignation from political office. Findlay had said last week that suggestions a leaked audio recording showed she illegally offered jobs to MLAs, in exchange for resigning so she could stand in a byelection, were “preposterous.”

Gasper has taken a paid position as Findlay’s deputy chief of staff. RCMP said they were aware of the purported recording of Findlay addressing Conservative legislators, but “does not confirm or deny any investigation, or the identity of any person who may be subject to an investigation, until such time as charges have been laid.”

Banman has meanwhile rallied other Conservatives to join him as an Independent on Thursday “regardless of political affiliation.”

He said many had told him Findlay was “unelectable,” and that under her another election win by the NDP was increasingly likely.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 31, 2026