Bruce Banman becomes sixth B.C. Conservative MLA to leave this month as caucus exodus deepens

VICTORIA — The turmoil surrounding British Columbia's Official Opposition continued Thursday as Banman announced he was leaving the Conservative caucus after what he described as numerous conversations with residents of Abbotsford South. He said he had entered the period following the Conservative leadership contest with high hopes, but had become increasingly concerned that the party was moving away from the broad coalition it would need to defeat Premier David Eby's NDP. “The goal in politics is to make the tent bigger,” Banman said, arguing that voters he speaks with are primarily concerned about affordability, housing, access to doctors and public safety.

Banman's departure is particularly significant because of his role in the B.C. Conservatives' rapid rise. Elected as a B.C. Liberal in 2020, Banman crossed the floor to join Conservative leader John Rustad in September 2023. His arrival gave the Conservatives their second sitting MLA and, with it, official party status in the legislature, providing the previously marginal party with additional resources, committee representation and greater prominence during question period. Just over a year later, the Conservatives won 44 seats in the 2024 election and came within three seats of a majority government.

The party has since suffered a remarkable reversal. Banman is the sixth Conservative MLA to leave since Aug. 14, following Kamloops Centre MLA Peter Milobar, Delta South MLA Ian Paton, Prince George-Valemount MLA Rosalyn Bird, Richmond-Bridgeport MLA Teresa Wat and Courtenay-Comox MLA Brennan Day. Five of those six departures occurred between Monday and Thursday this week. The Conservatives, who elected 44 MLAs in 2024, have now seen their caucus fall to 31 members.

Milobar was the first of the latest group to leave, announcing Aug. 14 that his values no longer aligned with the party's direction under Findlay. Paton followed on Aug. 24 and subsequently joined Milobar in announcing plans to establish a new provincial political party aimed at voters who oppose the NDP but no longer see themselves represented by the B.C. Conservatives. Bird left the following day, saying she would sit as an Independent and calling for politicians to reject hatred and discrimination while finding ways to work together despite political disagreements.

The departures accelerated Wednesday. Wat quit after saying she could no longer serve under Findlay following reported comments during the leadership campaign that Wat said questioned her loyalty to Canada. Later the same day, Day announced his own departure, saying he had lost confidence in Findlay's judgment, conduct and ethical standards. Findlay disputed Wat's account of their interactions and said she had apologized privately, while describing Wat's decision to leave as a betrayal of the volunteers and voters who helped elect her.

Banman went further than several of his former colleagues in directly questioning Findlay's electoral viability. He said “person after person” had told him the new Conservative leader could not win and argued that continuing on the party's current course made another NDP victory increasingly likely. Banman said he would sit as an Independent and encouraged other MLAs, regardless of their current party affiliation, to consider joining him.

The crisis comes less than three months after Findlay narrowly captured the Conservative leadership. The former federal cabinet minister defeated Caroline Elliott on the fourth ballot on May 30, receiving about 51 per cent of the weighted points compared with Elliott's 49 per cent. Findlay does not currently hold a seat in the legislature and is preparing to run in Abbotsford-Mission after Conservative MLA Reann Gasper agreed to resign her seat to create a vacancy. Gasper's resignation is separate from the six caucus defections and was intended to provide Findlay with an opportunity to enter the legislature through a byelection.

The scale of the departures is especially striking given where the party stood after the 2024 election. The Conservatives emerged from that campaign with 44 of the legislature's 93 seats, compared with 47 for the NDP and two for the Greens. The party had transformed itself from a two-member caucus into the Official Opposition in little more than a year, but subsequent defections, expulsions and resignations have steadily reduced that total.

Banman's exit also raises the stakes because he was not simply another MLA recruited during the Conservatives' growth. Alongside Rustad, he was one of the two legislators whose alliance effectively established the modern Conservative caucus in Victoria. His decision to leave three years later — accompanied by an explicit warning that the party is narrowing rather than expanding its electoral coalition — adds another layer to a leadership crisis that Findlay herself acknowledged earlier this week could produce further departures.

With the legislature set to return in the fall, Findlay now faces two simultaneous challenges: winning a seat of her own and stopping a caucus that came close to forming government less than two years ago from fragmenting further. Banman's departure leaves the B.C. Conservatives confronting not only a reduced legislative presence, but a growing debate over whether the coalition that propelled the party to 44 seats in 2024 can remain together under its new leader.