{"id":181893,"date":"2026-08-25T05:38:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T05:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/181893\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T05:38:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T05:38:25","slug":"two-mlas-who-defected-from-b-c-conservatives-plan-to-form-new-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/181893\/","title":{"rendered":"Two MLAs who defected from B.C. Conservatives plan to form new party"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The B.C. legislature building is pictured on April 14. Ian Paton, the MLA for Delta South, says the Conservatives\u2019 direction under the party\u2019s new leader, Kerry-Lynne Findlay, no longer aligns with his beliefs and he intends to form a new party with Peter Milobar.CHAD HIPOLITO\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

There are plans for a new party in the British Columbia legislature as politicians return this fall, with two MLAs who recently defected from the provincial Conservatives saying they want to provide an option for frustrated voters.<\/p>\n

Ian Paton, who has served as the MLA for Delta South since 2017, announced Monday that he was leaving the Conservative caucus to sit as an Independent.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s the second MLA to make the move this month after Peter Milobar, who had been one of the Conservatives\u2019 leading moderate voices, left citing a lack of \u201cideological alignment\u201d with the party\u2019s new leader, Kerry-Lynne Findlay.<\/p>\n

At the time, Mr. Milobar said he had concerns about the party\u2019s direction under Ms. Findlay, who has pushed the party right and said it will focus on \u201cfaith, freedom and family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Paton, too, said the direction no longer aligned with his beliefs.<\/p>\n

The pair spoke to reporters in Victoria on Monday, saying they planned to register as an official party with Elections BC before the fall legislative session.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in the process of getting things organized. There will be much more to come,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The former Opposition finance critic said he and Mr. Paton could be a party of two, but suggested there could be other defections from the Conservatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hearing and listening from caucus members, and some may still come, some may not. That is their choice and I respect that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

B.C. opposition finance critic Peter Milobar exits conservative party<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Milobar said there were real fears around vote splitting, but he and Mr. Paton wanted to provide an option for voters who are dissatisfied with the governing New Democrats but \u201cdo not see a path forward\u201d with the Conservatives under Ms. Findlay.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll be an uphill climb, absolutely, but it\u2019s one that many, many people over the last week have been reaching out saying that they want to get on board,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Paton said their intention was to \u201cgive a home to those who feel politically homeless\u201d in B.C.<\/p>\n

He provided few details about his decision, but said he felt there were \u201ceyes\u201d on him under Ms. Findlay\u2019s leadership given he was previously a member of the former BC Liberals, then BC United, before joining the Conservatives in 2024.<\/p>\n

Mr. Paton also said constituents in Delta South had been telling him they weren\u2019t happy with the way the Conservatives were moving, with as many as \u201ceight people or nine people out of 10\u201d approaching him to deliver that message.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack in 2017, when [Mr. Milobar] and I first ran, 797,000 people voted for a centrist party back then, and I keep asking myself, where are they now?\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe need those people to come back, and if we can get those people back by being a little bit closer to centre, then we\u2019ve got the tools we need to win an election in [the] future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later Monday, the Conservatives issued a statement announcing changes to their shadow cabinet under Findlay, moving Kelowna-Mission MLA Gavin Dew into the role of finance critic, while Misty Van Popta, MLA for Langley-Walnut Grove, assumed the role of deputy whip while continuing as infrastructure critic.<\/p>\n

Scott McInnis, MLA for Columbia-River Revelstoke, will lead caucus policy development while remaining in the role of Indigenous relations critic, while Bruce Banman, from Abbotsford South, would add agriculture to his responsibilities along with tourism.<\/p>\n

Another party, CentreBC, has already sought to position itself as an alternative for voters dissatisfied with the Conservatives.<\/p>\n

Formed in 2025 under Karin Kirkpatrick, a BC United MLA who lost her Metro Vancouver seat to the Conservatives in 2024, the party \u2013 which does not have a representative in the legislature \u2013 is now led by former BC Liberal cabinet minister Mike Bernier.<\/p>\n

\u201cB.C. needs a socially progressive, fiscally responsible choice,\u201d Mr. Bernier said in a statement issued after the party\u2019s executive council appointed him leader in July.<\/p>\n

But Mr. Milobar said MLAs that have sat as Independents and others, including Conservative caucus members who\u2019d reached out to him over the last week, weren\u2019t interested in joining the party.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople, for whatever reasons, are not choosing to go to that vehicle,\u201d he said Monday.<\/p>\n

Mr. Milobar said it had become clear \u201cthey would prefer something new be created and try to as best as possible create that new energy for the public to get behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamish Telford, an associate professor of political science at the University of the Fraser Valley, said Mr. Milobar and Mr. Paton\u2019s decision to form a new party instead of joining CentreBC was a mystery.<\/p>\n

But he said the party would have an advantage over CentreBC because, with two sitting MLAs, it can obtain official status.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll be in the hallways, scrumming with reporters and getting their message out. And I rather suspect that others will join them,\u201d he said in an interview on Monday.<\/p>\n

Mr. Paton said he had felt \u201cvery comfortable\u201d with the Conservatives before Ms. Findlay was elected leader at the end of May, setting off changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a purging of a lot of staff members, a purging of our leadership team,\u201d Mr. Paton said, adding there was a \u201cdifferent feel\u201d in the caucus.<\/p>\n

Executive director Angelo Isidorou, president Aisha Estey and vice-president Sharon White each have left their posts in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

Abbotsford-Mission MLA Reann Gasper has also resigned to allow Ms. Findlay to run for her seat in a by-election.<\/p>\n

Findlay thanked Gasper for the \u201cselfless decision\u201d in the Conservatives\u2019 statement on Monday, saying she was grateful for the \u201cincredibly generous offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

It said Gasper would move to a leadership role, serving as deputy chief of staff.<\/p>\n

In July, MLA Amelia Boultbee quit the Conservatives and joined the NDP.<\/p>\n

Prof. Telford said it was no surprise the more moderate members were leaving as Ms. Findlay pushes the party to be more \u201cpurely conservative and populist in tone.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said a new party could be detrimental to the Conservatives\u2019 goal of unseating Premier David Eby\u2019s NDP in the next election, as Conservative governments that balance ideologies and focus on economic matters tend to fare better in B.C. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf people want to campaign on divisive social issues, they\u2019re free to do so, but they probably won\u2019t win an election,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Stewart Prest, a politics lecturer at the University of B.C., said the recent shifts have built up to an \u201cidentity-defining moment\u201d for the Conservatives.<\/p>\n

He said the plan for a new party felt like the outcome of a course set by Ms. Findlay, whose \u201cbold\u201d vision could backfire if voters see her party as too radical.<\/p>\n

It would be a \u201cdifficult road\u201d for Mr. Milobar and Mr. Paton ahead of the next election, Mr. Prest said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut they have some time now to build out a new strategy and a new identity,\u201d he said, adding he wouldn\u2019t be surprised to see them collaborate with the existing CentreBC party.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The B.C. legislature building is pictured on April 14. Ian Paton, the MLA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181894,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[164,224,238,214,212,239,17,211,230,231,227,213,210,235,171,234,143,222,249,215,216,229,225,226,219,240,220,244,245,247,242,246,94,243,217,142,233,113,232,241,223,236,237,228,221,218,248],"class_list":["post-181893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}