EDITORIAL – The crazy old world of B.C. politics is running true to form

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

SAY WHAT YOU WILL about B.C. Politics — it’s never boring. So, today (Sept. 20, 2026), Kerry-Lynne (“I’m not going anywhere”) Findlay has resigned as leader of the B.C. Conservatives.

How anyone who achieved such a resounding victory in a party leadership race could screw it up so badly and so quickly will be the subject of political science lectures for years to come. It will be the stuff of books and video documentaries.

Her decision came very shortly after the 14^th Conservative MLA, Linda Hepner, announced defection from the party. Findlay’s fundamental problem was that, instead of bringing her party and her caucus together, she seemed hellbent on splitting them apart. As Hepner summed it up, the party has become “a distracted cacophony of voices.”

Hepner says she won’t join Peter Milobar’s CentreBC party but don’t be surprised if she has a change of heart. Milobar and the other seven former Conservatives who now make up a brand new CentreBC caucus are, in effect the New BC Conservatives. They’ve simply left Findlay’s rightwing brand of politics behind.

Whether the three MLAs Findlay booted from the Conservative caucus as the weekend began will team up with Milobar remains to be seen.

As for Milobar, talk about resilience. He’s gone from BC Liberal to BC United to BC Conservative to Independent to CentreBC in lightning speed as politics goes.

The move into the CentreBC ranks was well-played indeed. The public was initially told that he intended to create a brand new party but that it didn’t have a name yet. That dragged on for a couple of weeks. Then the storyline was that the party with no name had developed its constitution but still didn’t have a name.

That was followed quickly with the announcement that he and his fellow defectors were actually joining CentreBC, with Milobar taking over from former BC Liberal MLA Michael Bernier as the leader. Bringing CentreBC into the Milobar picture shouldn’t really be a surprise — two centrist conservative parties running against each other wouldn’t have made any sense.

So what happens now? Much depends on whether Premier David Eby proves the pundits right and calls a “snap” election. He was, in theory, supposed to do it on Saturday but, at this writing, it hasn’t happened yet. The predictions have been adjusted to “within days.”

If Eby does call one, it will muddy the waters for the upcoming municipal elections but it’s happened before, though an emergency resolution at this week’s Union of B.C. Municipalities convention at the Coast urged Eby to keep provincial and local elections separated.

More importantly, what could happen to all the political players if an election is called for this fall? Eby’s motives, assuming he does make the call, are obvious — he wants to take advantage of the Conservative trainwreck.

He might not get his wish. I wrote recently about W.A.C. Bennett, who left the Liberal-Conservative coalition after it rejected him as leader, and led the fledgling B.C. Social Credit Party to a stunning electoral victory — and into power as government — in the early 1950s. It wasn’t impossible, I said, that Milobar could form a new party with Conservative defectors, and do something similar.

After all, British Columbians are disaffected with the NDP, and the lustre of the BC Conservatives has dulled, to say the least. If Milobar and his CentreBC colleagues can run a full slate in an election, anything could happen.

Findlay insists she will still run in next Saturday’s Abbotsford-Mission by-election. One of her opponents is a CentreBC candidate, Lakhwinder Jhaj, nominated before the new coalition led by Milobar was created. If Findlay loses, the Conservatives are truly finished. If Jhaj, a former B.C. Liberal, former federal Liberal and former New Democrat — wins, it could be an omen for the next election.

Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, writes for the Kamloops Chronicle and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and was a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.