The executive director of the BC Conservatives, who helped orchestrate the party’s climb from obscurity to official Opposition, is the latest departure from a prominent role under newly minted leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay. Angelo Isidorou said in a statement late Wednesday that his role in taking the Conservatives to the brink of power in the 2024 election, just four years after the party won less than two per cent of the vote, was the “honour of a lifetime.” He said he was leaving on “amicable and mutual terms,” while Findlay said on Thursday that she wished him success and thanked him for the “continuity” he provided during the transition since she was elected in May. Since Findlay won the party leadership by a razor-thin margin of 51 per cent to Caroline Elliott’s 49 per cent after four rounds of voting, she has embarked on major staffing changes within the party and the caucus. Last month, former interim leader Trevor Halford was replaced with Heather Maahs, and A’a:liya Warbus, the party’s only Indigenous MLA, was replaced with Sheldon Clare as Opposition house leader. Both were among Conservatives who lavished praise on Isidorou on social media after he announced his exit, with Halford saying his “talents are unmatched,” and Warbus calling him a “gem” who had poured his life into the Conservative movement. Elliott called Isidorou’s departure a “huge loss,” while federal Conservative MP Aaron Gunn said that without Isidorou, “the Conservative Party of BC would not exist.” Dion Weisner was let go earlier this month after being hired as director of research for the Conservative caucus in January 2025. “I was told that they’re going in a different direction, was all I was given,” he said in an interview Thursday. Weisner, who was an experienced staffer with both the former BC Liberals and Alberta’s United Conservative Party, said he was let go by the Conservative caucus chief of staff. While Findlay’s name never came up, “ultimately everything” was at her direction, he said. He estimated there has been a 50 per cent turnover of caucus staff since Findlay came to power. In addition to Isidorou and Weisner, an email from Isidorou’s party email account on Thursday said Philip Dippenaar was no longer the Conservatives’ managing director, while the director of field operations and the director of fundraising have also left their roles. Weisner said he didn’t think a single Conservative MLA would have been elected in 2024 if it weren’t for Isidorou. “I definitely think it’s a great loss for the party. I have no idea who they’d find to be able to fill the giant shoes he’s leaving with that. I think it was not a good idea,” he said. “He was so good at it. It’s definitely a changing of the guard from … the people that Kerry-Lynne Findlay doesn’t like.” Weisner suggested Findlay saw Isidorou as part of the “establishment,” although he didn’t agree. Neither Findlay nor Isidorou agreed to interview requests on Thursday. Hamish Telford, an associate professor of political science at the University of the Fraser Valley, said it’s common for new leaders to want to put their stamp on a party. He said Findlay’s direction is a change from decades of politics in B.C. “The centre-right party, be it Social Credit, be it BC Liberals under Christy Clark and Gordon Campbell, or the Conservatives under John Rustad, was that they endeavoured to be a coalition of liberal and conservative-minded voters,” he said. “Miss Findlay has said that she wants the party to be conservative. She’s not interested in a coalition-style party, and that’s well and fine. That’s what she campaigned on and that’s what she’s trying to implement.” Telford said it remains to be seen if the strategy will work and he’ll be watching to see if Findlay’s focus alienates liberal-minded members of caucus. “What I’m really focused on is caucus unity, and I don’t think we’ll have a real sense of that until the legislature resumes in September,” he said. The provincial Conservatives became the main right-leaning option in the 2024 election after BC United, the former BC Liberals, suspended its campaign. Findlay has kept former leader John Rustad in her cabinet as Treasury Board critic, while Halford is now critic for transit and ICBC. She has also appointed lieutenants to cover regions in the Interior, Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island. On Thursday, Ian Paton, the longtime MLA for Delta who was previously elected as a BC Liberal, issued a statement that he was stepping down as Lower Mainland lieutenant. He cited the demands of running his farm, being an MLA and wanting to spend more time with family, saying it “has nothing to do with any disagreement or dissatisfaction with the Conservative Party of British Columbia or its leadership.” “Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay is a longtime friend who continues to have my full support, and I remain committed to serving the people of Delta South and helping our team form government,” he said in a statement on social media. This report by Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press, was first published July 30, 2026.
