Kerry-Lynne Findlay posted the note on Sunday afternoon. She was resigning as leader of the Conservative Party of British Columbia. It was not easy, she wrote. It was right for the movement and the province. The battle, she said, should be with the NDP, not with other Conservatives.
That sentence is the whole joke. They never make it to the NDP.
Findlay won the job on May 30 by a single point over Caroline Elliott, 51 to 49, on the fourth ballot. She had no seat. She was going to run in the Abbotsford-Mission byelection on Sept. 26. One hundred and thirteen days later the caucus was a crime scene. About 13 MLAs had walked or been shoved. The party that took 44 seats in 2024 was down to the mid-20s. On Friday she expelled former leader John Rustad, former interim leader Trevor Halford, and Skeena MLA Claire Rattée. On Sunday morning Surrey-Serpentine River MLA Linda Hepner quit. Hours later Findlay quit too.
Thursday she had told the Union of B.C. Municipalities she was not going anywhere. Sunday she went. That is not strategy. That is a party that cannot sit still long enough to be an alternative.
The Washington Generals problem
The Harlem Globetrotters need a team that shows up, misses layups, and makes the home side look inevitable. That team is the Washington Generals. They wear the other colour. They are not allowed to win.
Large parts of the Canadian right have learned that role so well they no longer notice the script. They campaign like a government-in-waiting. Then they govern their own hallway. They dump a leader. They dump the next one. They hire a private eye. They leak. They call it principle. The NDP calls it Tuesday.
John Rustad built the breakthrough in 2024. Twenty caucus members then put him out in December. Trevor Halford held the fort. Findlay won a knife-edge members’ vote. The same building then spent the summer proving the vote did not count. Rustad’s people never accepted her. Her people never absorbed Rustad. Ten MLAs asked her to go. She fired three of the biggest names instead. Hepner called that “beyond the pale.” Then the leader who would not leave, left.
Voters in the Interior and the Fraser Valley did their part. They sent Conservatives to Victoria to fight David Eby on crime, housing, forests, and the resource file. What they got was a circular firing squad and a surveillance subplot. Reports said a private investigator, allegedly tied to former executive director Elaine Allan, had been watching critics, including MLAs. Whether every detail holds in court is a later question. The political fact is already in: a party that cannot trust its own caucus cannot ask a province to trust it with the keys.
Eby does not have to be good. He has to be last one standing
The NDP is not a machine of genius. It is a machine that stays in office while the other bench dissolves. Unemployment is up. The deficit is large. Growth is thin. Resource permitting is a maze. A serious opposition would live on those files. This opposition lived on its group chat.
That is why B.C. starts to look locked. Not because every voter loves the NDP. Because the only large vehicle that could replace it keeps taking the engine out and arguing over the dipstick. CentreBC and a pile of Independents are what you get when a caucus would rather be pure than useful. Split the anti-NDP vote often enough and Eby does not need a majority of hearts. He needs a divided map.
Findlay said she will still stand in Abbotsford-Mission. Fine. A byelection does not rebuild a party that just exiled its last two leaders and a chunk of its talent. A snap election rumour around Eby makes the timing worse. You do not call a truce in the parking lot and then ask the public for the premiership.
Professional losing is a habit
This is not one bad month. It is a method. Membership votes are treated as suggestions. Caucus letters replace elections. The camera finds the knife before it finds a housing bill. People who say they hate the NDP spend more hours harming each other than harming the government. That is how you become the Generals. You show up. You wear the logo. You miss.
A real right would pick a leader, swallow the 51–49, and spend 18 months on Eby. A fake right needs the drama more than it needs the win. Drama pays in clips. Wins require boredom, loyalty, and a decision to stop hunting witches in your own locker room.
British Columbians who wanted an alternative just watched the alternative resign, again, so the NDP can keep the ball. Findlay’s letter said the fight must be with the NDP. Correct. They never started it. That is why the province stays where it is. Not because the left is unbeatable. Because the other side keeps volunteering to lose.
Disclaimer
Based on Kerry-Lynne Findlay’s Sept. 20, 2026 resignation post and contemporaneous reporting from the Vancouver Sun, Western Standard, Global News, CTV, CBC, and the Globe and Mail. Seat counts moved during the week and may move again. Allegations about surveillance and party funds have been reported, not proven in court. This is political analysis, not a prediction of any election result and not an endorsement of any party or candidate.