Editor’s Note: Several hours after Linda Hepner submitted her resignation, Kerry-Lynne Findlay announced on X she was resigning as leader of the BC Conservatives.
Barely two days after three party members were removed from caucus, BC Conservatives Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay has lost another member.
Linda Hepner, MLA for Surrey-Serpentine River, resigned from caucus Sunday and in her resignation letter, obtained by Global News, criticized the party leadership’s “willingness to listen.”
Hepner in an interview cited the removal of Trevor Halford, Claire Rattee and John Rustad on Friday as the lynchpin to her leaving caucus.
“I was just confounded on why making all of those three leave was ever a good strategic decision,” she told Global News in an interview. “At that point, I decided enough is enough.”
She went on to criticize the moves by party leadership, questioning why the three MLAs were removed given their various impacts for the BC Conservatives, including high polling numbers.
Rustad led the party in the last provincial election where, while the NDP still achieved a slim majority, the party saw its best result with 44 seats – an increase from the eight they held at dissolution.
Rustad was ousted last year when the caucus voted to replace him as leader with Halford. Rustad resigned as party leader in December but remained in caucus until last week when the Office of the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly confirmed he and Halford were no longer members.
“The math simply does not add up,” Hepner wrote. “Grassroots members should be listened to, not simply appealed to.”
The MLA also remarked on allegations Thursday that a former director of the party hired a private investigator to look into 14 people, including party members and a Victoria-based journalist.
Speaking with Global News on Sunday, Hepner said she spoke with Findlay on Saturday and recommended she step down as leader.
“I said I will give my resignation if I didn’t hear anything and she said, ‘give me more time,” Hepner said. “I gave her the entire day and sent [the resignation] this morning.”
She added she did eventually hear from Findlay Sunday morning that she “may be making a statement,” but could not say when.
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Hours after Hepner’s resignation, Findlay announced her decision to step down as leader.
Hepner is the 13th MLA to leave the party either voluntarily or after being ousted by the party leadership.
Hepner’s departure reduces the party caucus to 25 and comes as talk ramps up that Premier David Eby may call a snap election as soon as this week.
Findlay may also have to contend with another party if an election is called, after former caucus member Peter Milobar became the new leader of the CentreBC party.
Milobar and several of the MLAs who had also left the party in recent weeks had spoken about creating a new party, but decided instead to join CentreBC along with Elenore Sturko, who was ejected from the Conservative caucus last year.
The party is now the third largest in the legislature, with eight MLAs. Milobar says its focus is around crime and safety in B.C. streets, health care, and the economy.
Asked if she would join CentreBC, Hepner said no and that she would stay where she is. She said she would assist anyone that is “interested in making a good decision to get us in election readiness.”
Though she said she would not run for re-election under Findlay’s leadership, she has not decided if she will now run should a snap election be held.
A date has not yet been announced, but a recent flurry of funding announcements by the provincial government have signalled the possibility an election could be on the horizon even as municipal election campaigns have begun to kick off.
Elections BC also recently put out a document outlining dates of advance voting and election day if a vote were to be called in the coming weeks. It says that if an election is called by this Tuesday, British Columbians would head to the polls Oct. 24, while an election called between Sept. 23 to 29 would result in election day to take place on Halloween.
The current scheduled date for the next provincial election is Oct. 21, 2028.
—with files from Global News’ Amy Judd
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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