{"id":868421,"date":"2026-08-23T10:10:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T10:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/868421\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T10:10:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T10:10:16","slug":"b-c-conservative-mla-for-abbotsford-mission-to-step-down-paving-way-for-new-leader-to-seek-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/868421\/","title":{"rendered":"B.C. Conservative MLA for Abbotsford-Mission to step down, paving way for new leader to seek election"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The B.C. Conservative MLA for Abbotsford-Mission has announced she will be stepping down, and Conservative Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay says she plans to seek the vacant seat in a byelection.<\/p>\n

Reann Gasper, the B.C. Conservatives’ deputy whip, said in a joint statement with Findlay on Saturday that the decision was made carefully.<\/p>\n

“I believe it is the right decision for me, for our party, and for the work ahead,\u201d said Gasper. <\/p>\n

“It has been a privilege to represent the people of Abbotsford-Mission, and I am deeply grateful to everyone who placed their trust in me.”<\/p>\n

Gasper, a licensed real estate agent and first-time MLA, was elected in 2024. <\/p>\n

Findlay won the B.C. Conservative leadership race<\/a> in May. She does not currently hold a seat in the legislature.<\/p>\n

Gasper said she has confidence in Findlay’s ability to to represent her riding.<\/p>\n

“I believe that giving our leader the opportunity to seek this seat strengthens our team and puts us in a stronger position for the work ahead,” she said in the joint statement.<\/p>\n

In a social media post on X, Gasper said the decision was hers to make: “No one asked me to make it.”<\/p>\n

Findlay thanked Gasper in the statement.<\/p>\n

“Our focus is clear. We need to earn the trust of the people of Abbotsford-Mission, strengthen our team, and build the momentum we need to defeat the NDP and form a strong, common-sense government for British Columbia,” Findlay said.<\/p>\n

Gasper will continue to work with the Conservative caucus in the months ahead, according to the release.<\/p>\n

WATCH | Gasper reflects on her historic election:\"\"<\/p>\n

Reann Gasper reflects on being the first Black female MLA elected in B.C. since the 80s<\/p>\n

She was the first Black woman elected as a B.C. MLA since the 1980s.<\/p>\n

Elections B.C. says provincial legislation requires a byelection to be held within six months of the seat becoming vacant in the Legislative Assembly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 2 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":868422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-868421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868421","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=868421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}