Chilliwack-Cultus Lake MLA Á’a:líya Warbus leaves Findlay’s B.C. Conservative caucus

Chilliwack-Cultus Lake MLA Á’a:líya Warbus announced Monday morning that she is leaving the B.C. Conservative caucus, posting a sharply critical social-media letter explaining why she will not work with new Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay.

Warbus said Findlay’s cancellation of a caucus meeting planned for Monday in Richmond was the final straw. She said the decision showed the limited value Findlay placed on caucus members’ opinions, adding that asking for trust is different from expecting faith without transparency and accountability.

The B.C. Conservative caucus said it remains focused on its role as the Official Opposition, holding the NDP government accountable and restoring prosperity for people in the province.

Warbus is the seventh MLA to leave the Conservative Party in less than a month and the 14th since the 2024 election, leaving 30 of the party’s 44 elected members in caucus. Party staff have also departed, either voluntarily or at the request of Findlay and her team, including executive director Angelo Isidorou and party president Aisha Estey.

Warbus said social-media conflict among Conservative activists and anonymous proxies has included particularly harsh, race-based attacks against her. She said she has faced an unhealthy volume of personal attacks as an Indigenous woman, and that division and volatility have intensified over the past two years as Aboriginal title rights have become a more prominent political issue.

She said recent rhetoric has included hateful, outdated labels and mudslinging, and that it is painful to see the province moving backward on these matters. Warbus and the other recent departures say they intend, at least initially, to sit as Independents.

Kamloops Centre MLA Peter Milobar and Delta South MLA Ian Paton have said they will eventually form a party and will provide details before the fall legislative session. Warbus has not decided whether to join them, though she used their communications staff to organize her resignation messaging and thanked them for their support. She said she does not plan to join the NDP, as former Conservative colleague and Penticton-Summerland MLA Amelia Boultbee did.