B.C. Conservative MLAs say little contact with new leader Findlay since May

At least two B.C. Conservative MLAs say they've had little to no direct communication with newly elected leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay in the two months since her May 31 leadership victory, despite initial optimism after a May caucus meeting in Penticton.

Findlay won the race with 51 per cent of the vote over political commentator Caroline Elliott in the fourth round of voting, ending a year-and-a-half of party turmoil. But according to multiple sources, the initial positive momentum has stalled. "There's been little effort to convey an overarching strategy that caucus can share with constituents," one MLA said, noting that most communication now flows through senior staff rather than directly from the leader.

Meanwhile, Findlay has assembled a tight inner circle and begun restructuring the party apparatus. Multiple staffers have resigned or been fired for not being deemed "conservative enough," and she's replaced interim leader Trevor Halford with Chilliwack North MLA Heather Maahs as House leader in the legislature. Prince George-North Cariboo MLA Sheldon Clare now serves as the official House leader. Both supported Findlay during the race.

Her new team includes former B.C. Unity Party leader Chris Delaney as chief of staff, former Juno News editor Cosmin Dzsurdzsa as communications director, and former Republican Party of Alberta executive director Apollo Chung as director of operations.

With the new team in place, party messaging has hardened. Sources confirmed a communications directive urging caucus members to characterize former B.C. Liberal premier Christy Clark as an NDP proxy after Clark publicly called Findlay "kooky" and said she "cannot win an election." The directive pushed a message that Clark and the NDP were "desperate and stooping to schoolyard name-calling."

University of the Fraser Valley political scientist Hamish Telford said the pattern shows Findlay centralizing authority and moving the party rightward. "Anybody with ties to the old B.C. Liberals or who isn't deemed sufficiently conservative enough is viewed suspiciously," he said. "The party seems to be saying we don't want the support of liberals because they're no better than New Democrats."