Adam Pankratz: The Kerry-Lynne Findlay nightmare is over, her disaster is ongoing

VANCOUVER — Kerry-Lynne Findlay is out as B.C. Conservative leader. Elected leader on May 30, her tenure did make it longer than a head of lettuce, but had anyone bet on a pumpkin or squash to outlast her, the noble gourds would have paid out handsomely. From nearly Day 1 it has been a sad tale of mismanagement and woe that saw the B.C. Conservative party implode as infighting and MLAs fleeing a sinking ship seemed destined to hand the NDP another victory. It is no exaggeration to say that Findlay’s tenure does not include a single positive accomplishment any serious person can point to that advanced the Conservative cause in B.C.

In her resignation letter, Findlay seems to have (very) belatedly recognized there was a problem in her caucus, which had seen 13 MLAs quit or be fired in less than a month. She noted “Energy that should have been directed toward challenging the NDP, advancing our principles, and preparing to form government has instead been spent fighting amongst ourselves.” She continued “I have made decisions I would make differently with the benefit of hindsight.” No kidding.

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Perhaps the gracious act would be to offer some credit for mistakes acknowledged. However, when those mistakes were blindingly obvious from the get-go and caused immediate shock and resentment within Conservative caucus, such credit must be sparingly given, if it is given at all. Findlay’s wounds, which finally became fatal on Sunday, were entirely self-inflicted and deserve little pity.

Let us recall clearly that Kerry-Lynne Findlay won the Conservative leadership by the absolute slimmest of margins. She won 51 per cent of the vote on the fourth ballot over activist and commentator Caroline Elliot, who got the other 49 per cent. Now, a win is a win, but it was clear to everyone with even a drop of common sense that Findlay had hard work ahead of her to build out a coalition and demonstrate that she would provide an inclusive vision of Conservatism in B.C.

The exact opposite happened. Loyalty was rewarded over competence. Former leader John Rustad and former interim leader Trevor Halford were marginalized in caucus and eventually removed just a few days ago, along with Skeena MLA Claire Rattée.

Findlay’s chosen chief of staff was Chris Delaney. A former B.C. SoCred, Delaney had had stints with Reform B.C., B.C. First and the Unity Party, an anti-abortion party Delaney lead in the 2001 provincial election. None of those parties was ever mainstream and always represented a fringe element on the right of B.C. politics. This was not the signal to send if Findlay had any intention of widening the net of who could feel the B.C. Conservatives offered them a political home.

Then, as her director of operations, she hired Apollo Chung. Chung was a former member of the Republican Party of Alberta, which advocates for Alberta’s separation from Canada. Again, not exactly the hire which screams broad tent conservatism.

Both Delaney and Chung ended up resigning in unfortunate circumstances. In perhaps the most bizarre of the two, Chung was fired after the release of a tape in which a Conservative staffer made comments that he didn’t “care about … saving the province,” that “white people are, like, crazy” and that he had “the leader in our hands,” and that he was going to take control of the party’s funds. It was never confirmed that this was Chung, but his removal came immediately after the tape’s release and neither he nor Findlay ever commented on the matter.

Amidst all this turmoil, those who had built the party were systematically removed as Findlay set about purifying the party. Angelo Isidorou, the party’s former executive director left at the end of July and party president Aisha Estey resigned in August, posting on X “Can’t wait for conservatives to start electing respectful, kind, and ethical human beings again.” The situation clearly has not improved since then.

In fact, things seemed to keep getting worse. Elaine Allan, who was appointed executive director in August before also being ousted, is alleged to have hired a private investigator to spy on no fewer than seven current and former Conservative MLAs, four former party staffers, including Isidorou and Estey, veteran journalist Rob Shaw, as well other targets.

In her resignation letter Sunday, Findlay, who still intends to seek a seat in the legislature, said, “I have listened. I have reflected. And I take responsibility for the decisions that were mine to make.” It is ultimately far too little, far too late. Her actions have broken a party which, before the summer was leading in the polls and was set to walk into government to replace David Eby’s deeply unpopular NDP, which has leapt ahead in the polls in recent weeks.

Eby has been hinting lately that he might call a snap election, presumably to take advantage of the Opposition’s chaos. Convention would dictate he may demure now that the Conservatives are leaderless, which would offer the party some small relief, as it was facing potential annihilation.

It remains to be seen if the survivors of Findlay’s disastrous tenure can rebuild the party from the ashes and rubble of her political vandalism.

Adam Pankratz is a lecturer at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business.