{"id":705353,"date":"2026-05-31T07:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T07:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/705353\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T07:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T07:10:08","slug":"kerry-lynne-findlay-wins-bc-conservatives-leadership-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/705353\/","title":{"rendered":"Kerry-Lynne Findlay\u00a0wins BC Conservatives leadership race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Kerry-Lynne Findlay, newly elected leader of the BC Conservative Party, speaks during leadership election night in Vancouver, on Saturday.ETHAN CAIRNS\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Kerry-Lynne Findlay, a lawyer and former minister of national revenue under then-prime-minister Stephen Harper, will lead the B.C. Conservatives into the next provincial election.<\/p>\n

Ms. Findlay, who campaigned on a promise of \u201cmore freedom, less government,\u201d defeated four other candidates in voting announced Saturday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need hope and prosperity,\u201d she said in her victory speech, pointing to her record in the Harper government of cutting taxes and red tape. \u201cWe can do this in British Columbia.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Conservatives, who hold the position of official opposition in the provincial legislature, now have two years \u2013 or less \u2013 to prepare for the next election.<\/p>\n

The party\u2019s standing in that coming contest looked very different just six months ago, when the party\u2019s executive, caucus and leader were embroiled in a messy internal battle that finally forced party leader John Rustad out of his post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The BC Conservatives came within a whisker of winning the last provincial election in October 2024, but they then struggled with internal divisions over social values, heavy debt and moribund fundraising. Between defections and firings, the caucus shrank from 44 members to 39.<\/p>\n

Today, the governing NDP under Premier David Eby is struggling. A ballooning deficit and controversy over the government\u2019s reconciliation agenda with First Nations has given the Conservatives an advantage.<\/p>\n

BC Conservatives leadership vote to offer glimpse into party\u2019s vision<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters, Ms. Findlay said she will meet with the Conservative caucus on Sunday, and will promptly be seeking a way to win a seat in the legislature, which likely will require a member of the caucus to resign, to create a by-election opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI intend to get in there as soon as possible,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m hoping those announcements will come in fairly short order.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also said she is in talks with some of the five former Conservative MLAs who are now sitting as Independents, to see if they can return to the caucus. However, she said she will consult with the rest of the caucus before anyone would be invited back.<\/p>\n

Jennifer Whiteside, the NDP MLA who attended the leadership event as a monitor, said the Conservative membership have chosen a divisive and racist leader. \u201cWe clearly have the pro-Trump extreme right in charge of the BC Conservatives now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Conservatives say they are now the largest political party in the province by membership roll, and the party has retired its debt and is now building a war chest for the next election.<\/p>\n

While the next election is not scheduled until 2028, the NDP have a fragile majority and only narrowly passed a confidence vote in the legislature this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Kerry-Lynne Findlay, newly elected leader of the BC Conservative Party, speaks during leadership…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":705354,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44,714],"class_list":["post-705353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=705353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/705354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}