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Barely two days after three party members were removed from caucus, BC Conservatives Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay has lost another member.
Linda Hepner, MLA for Surrey-Serpentine River, resigned from caucus Sunday and criticized the party leadership’s “willingness to listen.”
In her resignation letter to Findlay, obtained by Global News, Hepner also cited the removal of Trevor Halford, Claire Rattee and John Rustad on Friday as a reason behind her decision to leave caucus.
“To me, it is beyond the pale of common sense to remove experienced voices rather than find a way to listen to them,” Hepner wrote.
She went on to criticize the moves by party leadership, questioning why the three MLAs were removed from the party even as it is asking grassroots Conservatives to “rally behind the party.”
Rustad led the party in the last provincial election where, while the NDP still achieved a slim majority, the party saw its best result with 44 seats – an increase from the eight they held at dissolution.
Rustad was ousted last year when the caucus voted to replace him as leader with Halford. Rustad resigned as party leader in December but remained in caucus until last week when the Office of the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly confirmed he and Halford were no longer members.
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“The math simply does not add up,” Hepner wrote. “Grassroots members should be listened to, not simply appealed to.”
The MLA also remarked on allegations Thursday that a former director of the party hired a private investigator to look into 14 people, including party members and a Victoria-based journalist.
Hepner is the 13th MLA to leave the party either voluntarily or after being ousted by the party leadership.
Hepner’s departure reduces the party caucus to 25 and comes as talk ramps up that Premier David Eby may call a snap election as soon as this week.
Findlay may also have to contend with another party if an election is called, after former caucus member Peter Milobar became the new leader of the CentreBC party.
Milobar and several of the MLAs who had also left the party in recent weeks had spoken about creating a new party, but decided instead to join CentreBC along with Eleanor Sturko, who was ejected from the Conservative caucus last year.
The party is now the third largest in the legislature, with eight MLAs. Milobar says its focus is around crime and safety in B.C. streets, health care, and the economy.
A date has not yet been announced, but a recent flurry of funding announcements by the provincial government have signalled the possibility an election could be on the horizon even as municipal election campaigns have begun to kick off.
Elections BC also recently put out a document outlining dates of advance voting and election day if a vote were to be called in the coming weeks. It says that if an election is called by this Tuesday, British Columbians would head to the polls Oct. 24, while an election called between Sept. 23 to 29 would result in election day to take place on Halloween.
The current scheduled date for the next provincial election is Oct. 21, 2028.
—with files from Global News’ Amy Judd
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