B.C. Conservative Donegal Wilson quits caucus, cites ‘separatist’ hirings by Findlay

VICTORIA – The eighth member of the British Columbia legislature to leave the Opposition Conservatives in less than three weeks has cited Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay’s hiring of staff with reported links to the separatist movement in Alberta among the reasons for her departure.

Boundary-Similkameen MLA Donegal Wilson announced Wednesday she was leaving the party to sit as an Independent, pointing to a series of concerns related to Findlay, who won the party’s leadership contest in May.

Findlay’s communication with the caucus had broken down, experienced staff had been fired and more than one of her senior appointees “has been reported to have links to Alberta’s separatist movement,” Wilson said in a statement.

The MLA said she no longer believed Findlay could “bring Conservatives back together” and she could not honestly campaign for the leader, who is running to win a seat in the legislature in a byelection later this month.

The Conservatives issued a statement following Wilson’s announcement, saying the caucus remained focused on the work B.C. voters elected them to do, “holding the NDP government accountable and restoring prosperity for the people of this province.”

The party has been in a state of upheaval since former leadership contender Peter Milobar quit the caucus on Aug. 14. A parade of other MLAs followed, including Delta South MLA Ian Paton who said RCMP had made an appointment to speak with him, expecting to be asked about his claim that he was offered a job as an adviser by Findlay’s chief of staff, if he would stand down as an MLA to allow Findlay to run in a byelection. 

Wilson’s statement cited “mounting questions about alleged inducements” to secure Findlay a seat in the B.C. legislature. 

She also made apparent reference to Apollo Chung, who was abruptly removed from his post as the party’s director of operations last week.

It described “a recording attributed to (Findlay’s) own director of operations discussing forcing fundraisers, wanting half a million dollars and being able to ‘steal everything.'”

Findlay’s announcement about the firing last week did not provide details, but it followed the release of purported audio recordings of Chung online.

Findlay is running in Abbotsford-Mission, a riding vacated by Conservative Reann Gasper, who has since been appointed Findlay’s deputy chief of staff.

Gasper’s resignation as an MLA came after a lengthy effort by Findlay to find someone willing to quit to make way for her. Paton said Findlay’s chief of staff Chris Delaney asked him to step down in July, saying he’d be given a job for two years with the same salary as an MLA.

“I was told I would be given some sort of a staff job as a party staffer and I would be an agriculture adviser or policy adviser,” Paton said in an interview Tuesday.

Paton rejected the offer but said he initially wasn’t aware that it could be an offence.

It is illegal under the Criminal Code to negotiate a reward or benefit related to resignation from political office.

Findlay has denied offering jobs in exchange for resignations and said suggestions that a recording released online shows she illegally did so were “preposterous.” 

She said in a statement last week that the recordings were “normal political discussions” that did not constitute a criminal offence.

“Any fair-minded person listening to the recording will immediately realize that this is not a good faith allegation of wrongdoing,” she wrote.

RCMP have said they were aware of the purported recording of Findlay addressing Conservative legislators, but the force does not confirm or deny any investigation or the identity of anyone who may be subject to an investigation until charges are laid.

Wilson’s defection is the second this week, after former Opposition house leader and Chilliwack-Cultus Lake MLA A’a:liya Warbus announced her departure on Monday.

Wilson’s statement said she had promised herself she would “keep an open mind” and give Findlay three months to demonstrate her leadership, but the MLA “never imagined things could go this wrong, this quickly.”

The Abbotsford-Mission byelection made her decision “unavoidable,” she added.

“Remaining in caucus would mean raising money, knocking on doors and asking British Columbians to put their confidence in Kerry-Lynne Findlay,” she said.

“I cannot do that.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 2, 2026.