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Bruce Banman announced Thursday that he is leaving the B.C. Conservative caucus to sit as an Independent, becoming the sixth caucus member to depart since Kerry-Lynne Findlay was elected party leader earlier this year.
In a statement, the MLA for Abbotsford South said he has heard repeatedly from people who say “our new leader is unelectable.”
“So, with a heavy heart I am announcing today I am joining an ever increasing number of MLAs to sit as an Independent MLA in the B.C. Legislature,” Banman said. “I would encourage my fellow MLAs, regardless of political affiliation, to join me.”
Banman’s announcement comes a day after the departures of Courtenay-Comox MLA Brennan Day and Richmond-Bridgeport MLA Teresa Wat.
Prince George-Valemount MLA Rosalyn Bird left the party on Tuesday and Ian Paton, MLA for Delta South, left on Monday.
Kamloop Centre MLA Peter Milobar, who ran against Findlay in the leadership contest, left on Aug. 14.
Paton and Milobar have announced that they intend to form a new political party.
The B.C. Conservatives have also lost key staffers since Findlay was elected party leader in late May, including executive director Angelo Isidorou, president Aisha Estey and vice-president Sharon White.
Findlay also fired the caucus director of operations Apollo Chung on Wednesday.
Reann Gasper, elected as an MLA for Abbotsford-Mission in 2024, announced on Saturday that she is stepping down from her seat so Findlay can run in a byelection. A date for that has not yet been set.
Two days later, the party announced that Gasper had been hired in the role of deputy chief of staff.
Teresa Wat and Brennan Day are the latest Conservatives to exit the caucus since Kerry-Lynne Findlay took over as leader, bringing the total to five departures in a month. Day, the MLA for Courtenay-Comox, says he’s lost confidence in Findlay’s judgement and ethical standards.
Yuri Fulmer, a Vancouver businessman who ran against Findlay to lead the B.C. Conservatives, says any MLA who walks away is putting their own ego ahead of the goal of beating David Eby’s B.C. NDP, adding that Findlay has only been leader for a short period of time.
“If you’ve left already, you didn’t give anyone a chance. You’ve been plotting to leave for weeks or months. You had no intention of giving any new leader a chance,” he said.
“I think we’re seeing a couple of folks who didn’t get made leader and supported somebody who didn’t get made leader and they’ve decided to move on.”
The exodus of MLAs comes as new Conservative Leader Kerry Lynne-Findlay is facing criticism for an audio recording that some MLAs say prove she was incentivizing members of her party to step aside for her.
