A British Columbia political commentator says a serious right-of-centre alternative could make it harder for provincial Conservative Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay to win a seat in the legislature in a byelection that must happen by next spring. Two sitting MLAs who recently defected from the Conservatives announced this week they plan to form an official party, and Stewart Prest, political science lecturer at the University of B.C., says it could pull votes away from Findlay if it runs a candidate. Former Conservative MLA Reann Gasper resigned this month to give Findlay a chance to run in Abbotsford-Mission, where Gasper won the seat with 55 per cent of the vote in 2024, beating incumbent and former agriculture minister Pam Alexis by fewer than 3,000 votes in the two-candidate race. But the Conservatives have had five legislators quit this month, citing concerns over Findlay’s leadership and views, with Peter Milobar and Ian Paton planning to have a new party up and running by the time legislative sessions resume on Oct. 5. Elections BC says the latest the legislature could call the byelection is Feb. 24, 2027, putting election day on March 24. Prest says Premier David Eby’s New Democrats have a chance to “really unsettle” the Opposition Conservatives, and it might be worth waiting to call the byelection to allow more time for a third party to emerge. “It goes with the famous Napoleon dictum to never interrupt your enemy when they are making a mistake,” he said in an interview on Thursday. “The stories are all about (Findlay) and her lack of ability to to govern her own caucus let alone make the case for governing the province and so as long as she is making the story about her, I don’t know why they would stop her from doing that.” This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 27, 2026 The Canadian Press
