Five return to B.C. Conservative caucus as early election looms

VICTORIA — After weeks of defections, expulsions and ugly infighting that reduced the British Columbia Conservative caucus by more than a third, the official Opposition’s legislative ranks are growing again.

The party’s new interim leader, Lorne Doerkson — who was appointed Sunday after the resignation of Kerry-Lynne Findlay — has moved swiftly to restore five legislators to the caucus amid the prospect of an early election.

Former leader John Rustad, former interim leader Trevor Halford, and legislators Linda Hepner, Scott McInnis and Claire Rattée are all back in.

The party has been announcing the returns on social media on Monday under the slogan “Conservatives unite against the NDP.”

The appeal to unity comes after the tumultuous reign of Findlay, who had expelled Rustad, Halford and Rattée on Friday, with Hepner quitting early Sunday.

They were among 13 Conservatives who resigned or were evicted from the caucus since August, during upheaval centred on Findlay’s leadership and what some called “ideological purity tests.”

Findlay was narrowly chosen as leader in May, running on a platform of “faith, family and freedom.”

Rustad told a news conference at the legislature that there were “obviously lots of people” in B.C. who don’t know Doerkson, a Cariboo-Chilcotin legislator, but he called Doerkson a “quality individual” and said he would be happy to have him lead the party into an election if he wanted.

“I am returning to do the work, not to run the next chapter from the outside,” Rustad later said on social media.

“If the new leadership wants my help, they will have it. I will not force my old vision onto them.”

Rustad said talks between the Conservatives and the breakaway CentreBC party — which now houses eight former Conservative MLAs — should succeed and the province “cannot afford two opposition parties” with an election on the cards.

But while the theme of the day was unity, there were still some recriminations.

Rustad said of speculation about the future of the Conservatives that people like former premiers Christy Clark and Gordon Campbell needed to “let politics go.”

He said Clark and Campbell were among the “players” trying now to manoeuvre what he called the centre right, and they should realize that “their time is over.”

“That may mean time is over for me, too. I don’t know,” said Rustad, adding that “it is time for that older generation of politicians to step aside.”

Clark swiftly clapped back.

“John! Pull yourself together man,” she said on social media.

Clark had earlier said in an interview that different factions on the right in B.C. needed to come together, to resolve this “chaotic” moment.

The former BC Liberal premier said she had been fielding calls all day on the way forward.

“I’m reminding them all, that we all used to work together, and we can all do that again,” she said, calling the prospect of an election call less than two years into Premier David Eby’s mandate “absolutely unheard of and it is a disgrace.”

She said she was not playing matchmaker between Opposition factions.

“I’m not deeply involved in negotiations or anything of that nature. I am just sitting by my phone…(we) absolutely cannot afford another four years of this absolutely terrible government.”

Rustad — who said his “time as leader is over” but not his service to the province — said “high level” unity talks underway between the Conservatives and CentreBC had a 95 per cent chance of success.

The legislature’s updated party standings are 47 for the NDP — giving them a one-seat majority — with 29 Conservatives, two Greens, two vacancies, and 15 Independents, including those joining CentreBC.

The developments come after the caucus of B.C.’s governing NDP met Sunday night to discuss a potential early election in light of Findlay’s resignation, raising the prospect of voters going to the polls while the Opposition has no fixed candidate to become premier.

An interim leader is prohibited by the Conservative constitution from seeking the party leadership on a permanent basis, but Rustad said there was a way for Doerkson to become premier.

Doerkson was first elected in the riding of Cariboo—Chilcotin in 2020 as a member of the BC Liberal party, which rebranded as B.C. United, before he crossed the floor to join the Conservatives. He was reelected in 2024.

Rustad also provided a timeline of the chaos that preceded his short-lived expulsion from the Conservatives on Friday.

He said he asked Findlay to step down last Wednesday at a caucus meeting, where there was “emotion and frustration around the table.”

The next day he got a text from Findlay expelling him. Fifteen minutes later that was rescinded.

But on Friday Rustad was told he was out.

Speculation about a snap election being called intensified Monday when the NDP announced that cabinet minister Lana Popham would not be running for a sixth term.

NDP MLAs had met the previous night to discuss Findlay’s departure, according to an email from party staff that was inadvertently sent to all legislators, instead of just those on the government benches.

“I’m sure you’ve seen by now, but KLF has resigned as leader of the BC Conservatives,” the email obtained by The Canadian Press said.

It went on to say the meeting was to “to discuss and hear from Cheryl and her team,” an apparent reference to Cheryl Oates, Eby’s former chief of staff, who has been appointed to manage the NDP campaign for the next election, whenever it is held.

The Canadian Press briefly attended the meeting, along with at least two Conservative legislators, before being asked to leave.

Eby said last week that he told his legislators they need to be “election ready.”

McInnis, who represents Columbia River-Revelstoke, had quit the Conservative caucus on Sept. 2, saying he did not agree with the direction of Findlay’s leadership.

He said in a statement on Monday that the opportunity to return “home” came at a critical time for the province, and he rejected the need for “ideological purity tests.”

No party had ever defeated the B.C. NDP without being a “big tent party,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 21, 2026.

Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press