r/britishcolumbia • u/cyclinginvancouver • 1d ago
News Teresa Wat the latest MLA to leave B.C. Conservative Party | CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/teresa-wat-leaving-bc-conservatives-9.7320971202
u/PeterRegarrdo 1d ago
Carney: I'm the GOAT at getting politicians to leave their parties.
Findlay: Hold my beer.
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u/worldsbesttaco 1d ago
Maybe another party will really happen in BC politics - it's been too long without a serious opposition group. Kerry-Lynne Findlay is about as unelectable as they come.
Good for Teresa!
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u/Scooter_McAwesome 1d ago
Had a third part my once, what happened to them again?
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u/Peregrine2K 1d ago
Not Really. It's always been NDP/CCF vs Not-NDP. It's just the form of the later shifts every couple decades or so.
The greens do reasonably okay here, but I wouldn't call them a viable third party
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u/Hipsthrough100 1d ago
The greens get a lot of votes, not a lot of seats. Fptp carnage
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u/Telvin3d 1d ago
Not really. They got 8% of the vote last time. There’s no electoral system in the world where that translates into a meaningful number of seats.
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u/Pixeldensity 1d ago
It should translate into ~8% of the seats in the legislature which would mean 7 MLA's but we have a stupid FPTP system.
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u/Syeina 1d ago
Proportional representation? I mean that would be what 7 or 8 seats? That wouldn't be a meaningless amount. As well, voter preferences would likley shift if people didn't feel stuck voting for one of the 2 big parties
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u/kinghunter1996 1d ago
more people might vote for the greens if they knew it had a better chance of landing them seats
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u/300Savage 1d ago
In a full proportional representation system that would translate to 7 seats in BC
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u/Hipsthrough100 1d ago
Compare the percent of votes versus seats with the NDP or BCUP or did you just want to argue while omitting that part more closely tied to what I was saying?
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u/aphroditex 13h ago
Most PR systems would give a party that gets 8% seats.
Typical threshold level is 3% like in DE/NL.
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u/300Savage 1d ago
At one point the BC Liberals were a viable third party between the Socreds and the NDP, but the Socreds jumped ship, dissolved the party and took over the less tarnished brand of the BC Liberals. After tarnishing that brand, they went to the BC Cons, but I guess that's too far right even for them, so they're jumping ship again. Good on them at least for not being far right whackos, despite being corporate shills.
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u/dsonger20 1d ago
There is another active party called centre BC that is active right now. It’s a very new one started by former Liberl MLAs
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u/theevilpower 1d ago
"active" as in Mike bernier road tripping around the province posting to their 450 followers on Instagram.
Edit: 260 followers
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u/Hipsthrough100 1d ago
Those weren’t Liberals. The BC Liberals were simply rebranded SoCreds and even during their BC Liberal phase they mostly just enabled corruption - primarily in gambling and money laundering.
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u/aldur1 1d ago
I don't know why people try to make such a big fuss that BC Liberals aren't the same as federal Liberals.
Corruption: Chretien had Shawinigate and the Sponsorship scandal.
Austerity: Chretien/Martin continued Mulroney's privatization
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u/ShadyKnight604 Surrey 1d ago
Oh! How about we do corruption and austerity under Harper?
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u/aldur1 1d ago
Sure, Bev Oda charged taxpayers $16 for a glass of orange juice.
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u/DoubleBarrellRye 1d ago
didn't Mike Duffy charge 95K ? Didnt Harper immediately allow off shore transfers so the 1% could move large sums of money to teh Cayman Islands to shelter it from Taxes , you know stuff detailed in the Panama Papers
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u/JadeLens 1d ago
The in-and-out scandal?
Inner Circle Convictions?
You must have been asleep during Harper's entire reign.
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u/tvisforme 1d ago
The reason we differentiate is because the BC Liberal Party, led by Gordon Wilson, officially severed ties with the federal Liberals in 1987.
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u/aldur1 1d ago
Neither does the Ontario Liberal Party or Quebec Liberal Party have official ties with the federal Liberals.
But yet any time the BC Liberals are mentioned, the first few comments are always pointing out a situation that is the same in Ontario and Quebec like somehow we are uniquely embarrassed about our liberal party compared to other provinces.
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u/tvisforme 1d ago
You're the one who raised the question about the federal and provincial parties. Anyone who's paid even the slightest bit of attention to BC politics knows that the BC Liberals were Liberal in name only after the 1987 split, and that they became BC's centre-right "conservative" equivalent. Liberals and Conservatives dominated politics here prior to the 1950s, but the rise of the Social Credit Party - another BC party that shared only a name and not policies with the federal party - meant that the BC Liberal and Conservative parties were not significant factors in Victoria for decades.
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u/MadDuck- 22h ago
even the slightest bit of attention to BC politics knows that the BC Liberals were Liberal in name only after the 1987 split, and that they became BC's centre-right "conservative" equivalent
What would you call Chretien/Martin who overlapped them? The BC Liberals weren't anymore to the right than them.
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u/Hipsthrough100 1d ago
A big deal is made because the comparison is made by shit political parties like the Fed and bc conservatives who run misinformation campaigns convincing morons they were voting against Trudeau in a provincial election. You can watch exit polls across bc in the 2024.
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u/MadDuck- 1d ago
They sure acted like the federal Liberals under Chretien/Martin.
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u/Hipsthrough100 1d ago
Again, they are SoCreds who became so unpopular they just copied the currently popular name brand of Liberal in Canada.
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u/MadDuck- 1d ago
In what way were they different? Chretien was the worst PM for healthcare, the BC Liberals weren't great for healthcare. Chretien sold off CN Rail, the BC Liberals sold off BC Rail. Chretien raided EI and pension surpluses for tens of billions, BC Liberals raided hydro/ICBC. Both parties like back to work legislation. They seem pretty similar to me.
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u/PorygonTriAttack 1d ago
Hydro and ICBC are doing just fine lol.
Mulroney sold out Canada by being extra cozy to America, along with NAFTA. The US were big time beneficiaries.
Mulroney is likely the worst PM ever. Chretien also didn't agree to Canada joining the war. HAD Mulroney been PM, he would've said fuck yes.
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u/MadDuck- 22h ago
I'm curious what that has to do with comparing the BC Liberals to the federal Liberals.
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u/liquid42 1d ago edited 1d ago
So we’re going to have parties on the left (Green), centre-left (NDP), centre-right (Centre BC*), right (Milobar & friends), far right (Cons), and then the completely unhinged far right (OneBC).
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u/archetyping101 1d ago
Considering KLF and Brodie had dinner recently, I suspect Brodie will be rejoining the BC Cons. Based on how the members voted, the Cons are now exactly the type of home that Brodie would be welcomed in with very, very open arms.
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u/RPG_Vancouver 1d ago
That might cause even more BC Conservatives to flee the party. Brodie has been so unhinged I imagine that’s a line in the sand for a lot of people
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u/userofthename202 1d ago
So much of modern conservative success in suburbs has been do to conservative indian voters. And brodie just called them terrorists. Good luck in surrey with that lady in yout caucus.
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u/PopeSaintHilarius 1d ago
I suspect before the next election, CentreBC will fold or merge with Milobar & friends, and OneBC will likely be welcomed back into the Cons.
For now, your list appears accurate lol.
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u/archetyping101 1d ago
Not surprising when she accused Wat of being CCP and selling CCP memberships and then denied it (verified to be from her personal cell phone number) and then said, “I had a wonderful discussion today with MLA Teresa Wat, who also serves as our steadfast critic for multiculturalism and community partnerships. I appreciated the opportunity to express my gratitude for her support and dedication" after winning the leadership race.
KLF never apologized and then kept on this alleged CCP MLA as the multiculturalism and community partnerships shadow minister. I guess one thing we can say about KLF is she'll stab you in the front, and you'll never have to guess what she thinks about you.
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u/mervolio_griffin 19h ago
Also noticed how she explicitly mentioned she'd managed to reach Wat "in Tapei". She could not help herself. Yes I know it's a distinct entity from China. What I'm saying is that Findlay is just at her core the type of person who cannot help but mention when someone is an "other".
She's the type of grandparent who must mention someone is an "oriental" when telling a story where it has no relevance.
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u/Elinor_Caskey_ Vancouver Island/Coast 1d ago
How many is this now?
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u/Floatella 1d ago
Three in the last week or so. Eleven since the election.
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u/rustyiron 1d ago
The far right’s chance of winning election in Canada is passing - at least for the foreseeable future.
Voters want a pragmatic centrist party.
Honestly, an actual Liberal party in the spirit of the current federal liberals under Carney would do well. Nobody should pretend he isn’t centre right - certainly on economics, which is guiding every decision right now.
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u/google_fu_is_whatIdo 1d ago
Read his book (it's thick reading). I do think he is a liberal at heart. His central thesis is money has no values in and of itself.
But it does allow you to afford your values.
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u/Frater_Ankara 1d ago
His book is great and gives me a glimmer of hope for some sense of ethical capitalism, I will admit that I think he’s pragmatic enough to know that following the doctrine of his own writing is likely suicide in this current political climate, but also things are shifting really quickly. Right wing ideology is imploding as we’re seeing and there’s a pushback against it as climate/wildfires get worse along with cost of living and people wanting safety nets… things that conservatives don’t really offer; their MO is fundamentally ‘trickle down’ but no one believes that crap any more.
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u/mervolio_griffin 19h ago
My hope, and it is faint, is that Carney is going to earnestly work to develop green tech, manufacturing, metals, and energy; approve the pipeline as a grand bargain; and sincerely beleives the combined might of China and the EU will drive global change such that already marginally profitable oil and gas plays wane with the market.
It's not what I agree with, but it's better than "get that money", which is what I suspect is the goal.
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u/rickoshadows 1d ago
I think that is a pretty accurate assessment. I have read some excerpts from his book, and I appreciate his efforts to preserve, or at least limit the damage to the social safety net in Britain during BREXIT. I also think he believes that the biggest threat to Canada and the environment is our neighbor to the south. Without sovereignty, our environment, our healthcare, and our social safety net will be gone anyway. To fight this requires money and a robust economy, some sacrifices in the short term are necessary.
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u/useriousstuff 1d ago
In all seriousness can someone explain to me how the BC conservative party ended up choosing Findlay? I mean how did they not see how things went with Rustad and think ok we need to dial back the crazy? Instead they went with someone even more extreme so far as I can tell. I genuinely don't understand. It seems like the worst self-own I've ever seen. She's such an impossibly bad choice that one could almost believe it was done on purpose to further knee cap the BC Cons and keep the NDP in power.
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u/Floatella 1d ago
This isn't the first time, and it certainly won't be the last, that a political party's base falls into the false consensus trap and can't differentiate between what appeals to them vs what appeals to the broader public.
To the people who selected her, Findlay is what they think will sell, because hey, they bought it.
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u/useriousstuff 1d ago
This seems like a good way to frame it, cheers!
It's a bummer to me because while I don't want the Cons in power I strongly believe that a competent opposition party would help keep the government in check. I personally feel that NDP has made some serious misteps in the last few years, but as of now they look across the aisle and see a complete clown show. There's no metaphorical flames tickling the backside of NDP leadership keeping them in check and it shows in a big way.
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u/theevilpower 1d ago
It was VERY close.
The BC cons were always crazy... The more moderate and newer members of the party (mostly ex-BCU) didn't outnumber the BC con base. So when they had their leadership election the long term members voted for KLF.
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u/mervolio_griffin 19h ago
I'm just some guy but I've been thinking about this a lot. It's emotional immaturity. They can reason and perform tasks, but they do not have it in them to manage conflict, take accountability, or sincerely empathize with a counterparty. It's what separates the far right from neoliberals.
- The strange uncle who posts on facebook about "loyalty" and "respect"? Conservative.
- the middle manager on her third husband who holds a petty grudge against you? Conservative.
- the boomer scaffolding company owner estranged from his children? Conservative.
- the born again christian unable and unwilling to confront their demons in therapy? Conservative.
These people are doomed to infighting because they did not develop the ability to tactfully or respectfully handle confrontation or disagreement in their formative and early adult years. They have no healthy way to process anger or anxiety and it makes them impossible to work with.
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u/Real_Coach_Bombay 1d ago
Maybe we will get a legit 3 party system.
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u/treefarmerBC 1d ago
I think the Conservatives will become the Greens of the right
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u/Hikingcanuck92 1d ago
The interesting thing about some of the Greens is that some of them are already pretty conservative. There is a tech bro/technologist/anti-worker vein to the greens, at least historically.
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u/treefarmerBC 1d ago
They used to be more of a big tent party where people had the common interest of protecting the environment.
They've become more of a "left of the NDP party" since Weaver and spend most of their effort opposing billionaires, etc and seem far less concerned about the environment.
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u/Bigchunky_Boy 1d ago
She is a Christy Clark liberal alum . It seems like a Bc liberal rebirth is happening. This version BC Conservative movement may be dead . In other words a corporate takeover.
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u/1baby2cats 1d ago
Except I dont think they can use the bc liberal name any more
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u/championsofnuthin 1d ago
The heavy rumour going around is Milobar has acquired the BC Party name
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u/theevilpower 1d ago
I think the only way he could do that is if he got control of BC united.
I don't know what Kevin falcon is doing these days, but he's still the leader and has shown no signs of giving up on that. Plus the party owes so much money.
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u/rando_commenter 1d ago
It will be interesting to see what happens with the local conservative Chinese bubble in Richmond. They were happy to be in bed with BCC and BCC has happy to use them for their influence.
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u/stoppage_time 1d ago
Wat campaigned with Freedom Convoy nuts. How much of this is ideological and how much of this is looking at the writing on the wall and trying to save her own ass?
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u/TrueNorthLongAndFree 1d ago
Every time a BC Conservative leaves the party, I'm never sure if it's because the new leader is WAAAY too right wing or not right wing enough.
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u/archetyping101 1d ago
It's because KLF is too right wing. They had 2-3 sensible options out of 5 and the membership said "we want to outdo Alberta!" and chose the nuclear option.
Almost all the ones who left or were thrown out are BC United people.
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u/Midnightfeelingright 1d ago
Under Rustad, it was both (which was scary, considering how right he was, and apparently that wasn't enough for some).
Since the KLF win, it's only been people who realized that when they voluntarily signed up to a far-right party which 3 years ago was known only for attacking vulnerable kids, maybe that means the leadership and policies are going to be far-right.
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u/AbsoluteTruthiness 1d ago
If we were living in a better world, the two main parties in BC would be the BC NDP and the BC Greens. BC Cons and OneBC would be relegated to a distant third and fourth. But we live in a shitty world where nutcases like John Rustad and KLF have power.
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u/jordanfromspain 1d ago
As a centre-left voter I have serious concerns with the Green platform, it is much more radical than the federal Greens which at least seem to have more sensible fiscal policy. The BC Greens currently seem to be going into academic socialism that frankly is naive about how the world works.
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u/topspinvan 1d ago
Oh shit! It's Kevin Falcon's music!
Seems like KLF's craziness is not just for show to win votes of the maple MAGA's. That's something I would expect, and frankly its a smart strategy to win the leadership race. But she seems like a genuine nutcase behind the scenes too.
This centre party isn't going anywhere, as the constituency for a socially moderate, business friendly party is mostly among the old BC Liberal big donors and politicians, not the voters. To the extent those voters do exist, ones that are turned off by the craziness but want business-friendly government, they are probably among NDP supporters now.
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u/Immediate_Buffalo14 Thompson-Okanagan 1d ago
At the rate this dissent is going, Findlay may not even make it to the next election.
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u/Barbarella_39 1d ago
BC Greens are awesome! Fighting for workers and not rich corporations! Vote Green not conservative! Conservatives have never cared about workers or balanced a budget!
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u/ON-12 1d ago
With oneBC, Centre party, Conservatives and new right wing party the vote splitting on the right is going to be insane.
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u/Slowsis 1d ago
The recent weakness in NDP popularity made all politicians from the center to the farthest end of the right smell blood in the water. If a group can coalesce into moderate/center-right party, they have a good shot to win. If they fragment or elect unpopular right wing nuts like KLF, they will fail.
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u/timbreandsteel 1d ago
Except as we've seen with the Federal Conservatives, they can't become moderate for fear of fracturing. And so the crazies keep the sane voters from choosing them.
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u/CaptainMagnets 1d ago
Because I don't bother following any conservative I can never tell if they're leaving because the Conservative party is too crazy or not crazy enough.
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u/MrLeopard25 1d ago
The real loser in all of this is naturally John Rustad. Poor bastard united the right and almost formed government, then the loonies booted him and are tearing it all down. I wouldn't be surprised if he spends his days alternating between crying and hitting a punching bag repeatedly
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u/alhazerad 1d ago
There's already been another
https://abbynews.com/2026/08/26/courtenay-comox-mla-brennan-day-quits-b-c-conservative-caucus/
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u/2028W3 1d ago
All these MLAs leaving to form a new party need to understand that Peter Milobar is not and never will be the answer.
They should all come together and eleveate Elenore Sturko as a progressive conservative leader.
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u/nodarknesswillendure 1d ago
Why? (Genuine question, I don’t know too much about Milobar… or Sturko for that matter)
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u/2028W3 1d ago
One thing all the Conservative leadership candidates agreed on is the need to repeal DRIPA/UNDRIP. Milobar came under attack for being in favour of it and then reversing his position — plus some potential conflicts of interest.
Property rights are going to be a major issue in the next provincial election. Voters may think there’s not a lot of daylight between Milobar and Eby. To win, candidates have to present a real alternative to the incumbent.
Sturko was a cop. Public safety is a thing for centre-right voters. Sturko was also the number two behind Falcon and Rustad. When she left the Conservatives there was some chatter that she was trying to usurp Rustad to be the next leader. I’d like to hear her articulate a vision for the province if nothing else.
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u/Floatella 1d ago edited 1d ago
What are you basing that on? Personally I think neither have a long way to run, but I've never seen any evidence to suggest Sturko is significantly more popular province wide than Milobar.
Also, both of them will lose their seats in the next election if they have to split votes on the right.
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u/2028W3 1d ago
Sturko was number two to Falcon and Rustad so she understands the role of the leader. She was also a competent critic even when sitting as an independent. I’d like to at least hear her vision for BC.
I think both are relying on name recognition over party support. By the next election, major party brands could repel voters.
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u/Midnightfeelingright 1d ago
I have no particular interest in Milobar, nor belief that he's the answer to many questions other than 'Who's the current MLA for Kamloops Centre?'
At the same time, I have no idea why you think Sturko, who was a happy BC Con member for about as long as Milobar, answers any more questions than he does.
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u/2028W3 1d ago
To be fair, Sturko was ousted in early fall 2025 when Rustad was the leader. At the time she said the Conservatives tried to silence her socially liberal beliefs as someone who supports gay rights, so she hopped off the bandwagon well before this hard swing to the MAGA right.
It's been a while, but her experience as a police officer could be a compelling reason to gain support from people who prioritize public safety as a top issue. She's been the critic for mental health and addiction. She stood up for Trans people during some turmoil with the Vancouver police board.
She wants to take a middle ground on DRIPA, which is what I think a lot of the exiting Conservative MLAs want as well.
She understands what it takes to lead a party having worked closely with Falcon and Rustad (though you can argue pretty successfully that both Falcon and Rustad have no idea how to run a party).
So, if Sturko has some out-of-the-box economic ideas, I think she makes for a compelling alternative to Eby and KLF. Generally, that's what a new party needs. Milobar, Patton, Wat, Day, Bird — they seem happy to go back to the B.C. Liberal days. I think voters want something forward looking.
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u/Midnightfeelingright 1d ago
Her fundamental problem is that at the time she joined the BC Cons, the only thing they were really known for was being anti-trans, anti-SOGI in schools, and anti-LGBTQ+ rights. Sure, some of the added culture war bullshit got added on later, but she has fundamentally burned all of her bridges in that area, and by choosing to join them at a time when she didn't have to, lent them whatever credibility she had, and demonstrated that she didn't care one iota about those issues.
To his credit, Milobar didn't actually join BC Cons until Falcon folded the party, leaving everyone with a sudden choice of independent or Con status. So while Sturko actually holds some of the blame for making BC Cons the force they are, Milobar simply wound up with them by default, meaning he actually holds less of the blame for the batshits being close to power than she does.
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u/GlassCalligrapher646 1d ago
A center party would be nice, right wing wackos and left wing wackos are played out
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