BC Conservative Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay announced Tuesday she has been acclaimed by the party executive to run as its candidate for Abbotsford-Mission following Saturday’s resignation of MLA Reann Gasper.

Gasper’s resignation gives Findlay an opportunity to enter the B.C. Legislature through a byelection.

Findlay had previously asked three of the party’s MLAs to step aside, including Delta MLA Ian Paton, who resigned from the party on Monday.

Findlay denied Paton’s claim that the party offered him a caucus position in exchange for resigning his seat to allow her to run. Party members chose Findlay in a closely contested leadership race on May 30.

Findlay said at a 30-minute news conference in downtown Vancouver that Gasper was then offered the position of deputy chief of staff on Sunday. She said Gasper’s salary has not yet been decided.

After Gasper’s resignation, Randy Hawes, the president of the Abbotsford-Mission riding association announced his resignation on Facebook. He cited Findlay’s “huge step to the far right.”

Paton joined several other MLAs who have defected to sit as independents, joining two MLAs who have been removed since the 2024 provincial election to face assault charges.

Findlay called on B.C. Premier David Eby to call a byelection “sooner than later” while also not ruling out more defections.

“What I really wanted to convey today is, there may be others who leave our caucus. I don’t know. But if they are leaving that means they don’t have a vision for prosperity and hope that we are presenting for all British Columbians,” Findlay said.

Two hours after Findlay’s news conference, Prince George-Valemount MLA Rosalyn Bird resigned to sit as an independent, which leaves the party with 34 MLAs, down from 44 at the election.

Bird had also been asked to resign for Findlay in late June. Bird was left off Findlay’s new caucus leadership team.

The party claimed to be “the most effective opposition caucus in provincial history” on June 9 citing four private members’ bills, including Bird’s on making November Veterans and First Responders Month.

Paton and Bird cited the need to have the party focus on economic fundamentals.

In addressing the defections, Findlay noted the party has not changed the platform or any policy since the election.

“Part of that moving forward is of course developing policy and platform ideas,” said Findlay.

“We have lots of good ideas and we will be presenting those ideas as we go along,” said Findlay, who spoke in generalities about what her party will offer over the BC NDP.

Findlay repeatedly noted that B.C. needs to remove interprovincial trade barriers and stop overregulating professionals.

She said she supports fossil fuel pipelines from Alberta to the North Coast and alluded to the need to build refineries.

On the current free-trade negotiations with the United States, Findlay criticized Eby for not attending Prime Minister Mark Carney’s briefing following the collapse of the latest round of negotiations.

“We can be part of the Team Canada approach but we also need to show up,” Findlay said.

She also questioned the information, or lack thereof, coming from Ottawa.

“I’m a Canadian. I want Canada to prosper. I want B.C. to prosper. We don’t have enough details to be honest. We’re hearing different things from Canada than we are from the United States,” said Findlay.

Eby responded to some of Findlay’s comments Tuesday at a BC Liquor store — a location signifying the provincial government’s commitment to maintain a ban on U.S. alcohol sales, which Findlay has questioned.

Eby said he was pleased to see a tariff-to-tariff response from the federal government and an aid package for businesses affected by 50 per cent U.S. tariffs. But Eby added he would have also preferred to see additional non-tariff responses such as commitments not to purchase U.S. fighter jets and a ban on U.S. thermal coal exports through B.C. ports.

“There was progress being made on the softwood file,” added Eby, without providing further details at his 20-minute press conference.

“But let’s not be naive; any agreement with this president wouldn’t have lasted longer than the time it takes for him to write his signature,” Eby said.

Findlay has asked Eby to reconvene the B.C. Legislature early to debate trade. Eby said it would reconvene on schedule in October.

Eby did not respond to when a byelection could be called in Abbotsford-Mission.

“It’s mess after a mess on their side of things; it’s chaos central,” Eby said.

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