Findlay Loses Another BC Conservative MLA

The Conservative Party of BC lost another MLA Monday as Delta South’s Ian Paton announced he is quitting to sit as an Independent, with plans to help form a new party.

The Conservatives’ direction under new leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay “is no longer aligned” with his beliefs, Paton said in a statement.

“In 2024 I joined the BC Conservatives with the belief that it would become a broad coalition for British Columbians who wanted responsible, common-sense government,” he said. “What united us was a broad belief in responsible government, private enterprise, fiscal discipline and building a strong economy.”

A spokesperson for Findlay didn’t respond to a request for comment.

“While I am disappointed by MLA Ian Paton’s decision to sit as an Independent, I want to thank him for his contributions to our caucus and his service to the people of British Columbia,” Findlay’s account said on X.

“The Conservative Party of BC remains firm and steadfast in our mission to defeat the NDP and restore prosperity, opportunity and accountability to British Columbia,” she wrote. “There is important work ahead, and we will remain focused on delivering the change British Columbians deserve.”

Paton was first elected as a BC Liberal MLA in 2017. He became a candidate for the Conservatives during the 2024 election campaign after BC United, the former BC Liberal Party, folded its campaign.

In that election the Conservatives won 44 of the legislature’s 93 seats, just short of what they needed to form the government.

Since then the party has fractured, with eight MLAs either resigning or getting ejected from the caucus. Late last year the caucus forced John Rustad out as leader.

Findlay won the race to replace Rustad by promising to protect the party from a liberal takeover. In her victory speech she spoke about her focus on “faith, family and freedom.”

A former federal Conservative MP, she has promoted MLAs from the party’s socially conservative wing to key caucus roles and has replaced several staff members and party officials.

Last week Abbotsford-Mission MLA Reann Gasper announced she will step down so that Findlay can seek the seat in a byelection.

Paton will sit as an Independent with Kamloops Centre MLA Peter Milobar, who left the Conservatives earlier this month.

Milobar sought the Conservative leadership and had strong support from MLAs, but was the first of the five candidates in the race to be eliminated.

“I want to be clear that our intention is to form a new party in the B.C. legislature to give a home to those who feel politically homeless in this province and to stop the NDP from further destruction of British Columbia,” Paton said.

Just two MLAs are needed for official party status, which comes with pay increases for the leader and other positions, a budget to hire staff and increased opportunities to participate in legislative debates and committees.

Andrew Reeve, a senior consultant for the government relations firm Earnscliffe and a former BC Liberal press secretary, said Paton will likely be happier in a new party than he was with the Conservatives under Findlay.

“He’s not a culture warrior. He never has been,” Reeve said, adding that Paton’s priorities include business, the economy and agriculture. “He cares more about talking about tractors than trans kids.”

There are several MLAs who may choose to join Milobar and Paton in the weeks ahead, he said. The group’s options will include forming a new party and choosing a new name, or working with former BC Liberal MLA Mike Bernier, who is leading the CentreBC party.

The BC NDP released a statement from Darlene Rotchford, the MLA for Esquimalt-Colwood.

“Ian Paton and Peter Milobar deserve credit for not going along with Findlay’s Trump-style culture war, but British Columbians don’t need a repeat of their failed BC Liberal approach,” she said. “The BC Liberal record worked well for the richest and corporate insiders, but made life harder and more expensive for everyone else. British Columbians have rejected that failed approach.”

The legislature is scheduled to start its fall sitting on Oct. 5.