PENTICTON — Boundary-Similkameen MLA Donegal Wilson has joined the still-unnamed party led by Kamloops Centre’s Peter Milobar, taking that caucus to seven seats.Global BC legislature reporter Ben O’Hara-Byrne posted the one-page Keremeos release Monday morning. Wilson had not put the sheet on her own X account by mid-morning..“When I left the BC Conservative caucus, I left because I could no longer support the leadership of Kerry-Lynne Findlay,” Wilson said. “I said then that I was leaving a caucus, not my principles, and that has not changed. I did not intend to join another party, but what has become clear is that this new party is a group of people who are willing to put in the work and deliver on what British Columbians need in 2026.”.The Monday morning announcement says she decided after meeting the Independent MLAs already building the vehicle, and after watching them argue about what the party should stand for.“I am not interested in rebuilding an old, failed party,” she said. “British Columbia has changed. We are working to understand what worked, be honest about what did not, and build for the British Columbia we will have in the future. The new party has made significant strides in a matter of weeks and I am so glad to join this team and help build a credible alternative to the NDP that British Columbians can choose at the next election, whenever that may be.”She added that her first duty remains Boundary-Similkameen, and that she is joining “a practical, fiscally responsible party that listens, is willing to make difficult decisions and measures success by what it actually delivers for British Columbians.”Wilson left Findlay’s Conservatives on September 2..In her letter announcing the defection, she said three months had been enough, she could not campaign for the leader in the Abbotsford-Mission byelection, and that she would sit Independent. She is now the seventh Findlay-era walkout to walk into the vehicle Milobar and Delta South MLA Ian Paton sketched August 24.Prince George-Valemount’s Rosalyn Bird, Abbotsford South’s Bruce Banman and Chilliwack-Cultus Lake’s Á’a:líya Warbus joined September 4.Richmond-Bridgeport’s Teresa Wat joined Friday..Nine sitting Conservatives have walked out on Findlay since August 14.Courtenay-Comox’s Brennan Day and Columbia River-Revelstoke’s Scott McInnis are still sitting Independent on the public record.Findlay’s sitting caucus stands at 28, not counting vacant Abbotsford-Mission, the seat Reann Gasper resigned August 22 so the leader could run.Voting day in that byelection is September 26.Wilson won Boundary-Similkameen in 2024 with 11,935 votes (48.39%) over NDP incumbent Roly Russell. She had been Findlay’s critic for water, land, fisheries and wildlife management.The party that picked her up Monday still has no name.
