Upheaval in British Columbia’s Opposition Conservatives stepped up a gear on Wednesday, with two more legislators quitting, and leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay firing the party’s director of operations. Brennan Day was the latest to quit, saying in a statement that the direction of the B.C. Conservatives under Findlay “is no longer something I can support.” “More fundamentally, I have lost confidence in the judgment, conduct, and ethical standards of her leadership and those she has chosen to surround herself with,” Day said in a statement posted on social media. Day, who represents Courtenay-Comox, said he would sit as an “Independent Conservative.” His exit came hours after Richmond-Bridgeport MLA Teresa Wat announced she was quitting, saying Findlay had failed to apologize over “serious and unfounded accusations” the leader reportedly made about her in a group chat. Wat said the “distasteful, hurtful” remarks questioned her allegiance to Canada and made her doubt her place in the Conservatives under Findlay — she cited widely reported remarks attributed to Findlay calling Wat “CCP,” a reference to the Chinese Communist Party. “I had many friends and individuals from the community reach out to me to say they do not believe these false allegations and were shocked no apology was issued,” said Wat, an immigrant from Hong Kong, whose riding is heavily ethnically Chinese. “I realized that these allegations had caused real damage to my reputation and had created serious concern within the community.” Wat said Findlay told her this week there would be an apology, but none had been issued. “I cannot continue to sit in a caucus led by someone who has questioned my loyalty without evidence and, when given the opportunity to correct the record, has failed to do so,” she said. She also released a near-identical statement in Chinese. Wat and Day joined Prince George-Valemount’s Rosalyn Bird, who quit Tuesday, and Ian Paton who defected on Monday. Former Conservative leadership candidate and finance critic Peter Milobar announced his departure earlier this month. Findlay called Wat’s departure a “betrayal of the hardworking volunteers, campaign workers and voters who helped get her elected.” She said in a statement Wednesday that she apologized to Wat privately in July and the pair issued statements addressing the matter, but that nearly a month later Wat wanted a second apology. Findlay said she had prepared a statement on Monday addressing Wat’s concerns and the MLA “wrote that she was supportive of its contents.” “I was prepared to publicly address the matter in good faith. MLA Wat’s resignation post this morning was made without any prior communication to me,” she said. “I am disappointed in MLA Wat’s actions after making repeated efforts to address her concerns directly and in good faith.” Day said in his statement that public office demands integrity and he cannot ask others to meet that standard while “remaining silent” when he believes his “own party’s leadership has fallen short of it.” Day said he would continue to fight for issues including responsible government, fiscal discipline and individual freedom. In between Wat and Day’s departures, Findlay fired Apollo Chung, the party’s director of operations, effective immediately. “As of this morning I have directed my Chief of Staff to terminate the Director of Operations for the B.C. Conservative Caucus, effective immediately,” Findlay posted on social media Wednesday, without elaborating. The Conservative caucus and executive staff have been in a state of upheaval since Findlay narrowly won the party’s leadership race in May. In addition to the rapid depletion of the caucus, high-profile staffing departures have included president Aisha Estey, vice-president Sharon White and executive director Angelo Isidorou. On Tuesday, Findlay held her first news conference as leader, acknowledging that other MLAs may leave the caucus after the departures of Paton and Milobar. Bird quit hours later. All three cited a divergence of the party’s values under Findlay from their own as a major reason for parting ways. In her statement, Bird said B.C. residents “should be able to firmly reject racism, antisemitism, homophobia and hatred while still having difficult and necessary conversations about immigration, Indigenous reconciliation, addiction, crime, gender, religion and the many other issues on which reasonable people sometimes disagree.” Bird will sit as an Independent alongside Wat and Day, while Paton and Milobar have said they intend to form a party that offers a political home for voters who do not support the Conservatives under Findlay or Premier David Eby’s New Democrats. Milobar said Wednesday that he had been texting with Wat and it would be up to her to decide whether she wanted to join a potential new party. Announcing plans for a party to be officially recognized in the legislature was in anticipation of other colleagues potentially wanting to leave, he said in an interview. Milobar said broadly that his decision to leave had started to “alert people that there are serious systemic issues” in the party. “Less than people needing every single detail, I think the actions of MLAs are speaking loud enough on their own,” he said. Milobar said he and Paton were working through the steps to create the party, first getting approval from Elections BC, then writing a constitution, followed by policy positions. “Obviously if there’s MLAs on board at that point they’re going to want to have some say in that as well,” he said. “And we’ll keep moving forward in a very methodical way, aiming to be well underway and operational by the sitting of the legislature on Oct. 5.” The B.C. Conservatives came to the brink of power in 2024, winning 44 seats, but their ranks have since dwindled to 33. MLA Elenore Sturko, who was fired from the Conservative caucus in September 2025 by then-leader John Rustad and now sits as an Independent, said she expects more people will leave the party. There was conflict even during the last provincial election campaign as some in leadership positions tried to push the party further right, she in an interview on Wednesday. But Sturko said things had become worse under Findlay, who cleaned house of many staff. “I think that there was the staff, at least, that were providing support. There was quite a balance between people who were moderate and people who were less moderate in their views,” she said. “And to (Rustad’s) credit, he actually was able to maintain the balance a little bit better, actually quite a bit better to be honest, than what I’ve seen with (Findlay).” This report by Chuck Chiang and Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press, was first published Aug. 26, 2026.
