Findlay denies offering anything in exchange for MLAs to step aside

PENTICTON — Conservative Party of BC Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay on Tuesday pushed back against allegations she or her team incentivized MLAs to resign their seats, admitting some were approached to step aside while insisting nothing was offered in exchange..“There were some people approached … to step aside; I’m not denying that. But nobody was offered that in exchange for anything,” Findlay said in video remarks captured by Sitka Media.The comments come hours after Delta South MLA Ian Paton publicly alleged that Findlay’s chief of staff, Chris Delaney, offered him a paid agriculture advisor role matching his MLA salary if he quit to open a byelection path for the leader. British Columbia MLAs currently earn $122,043 a year. Paton refused and later quit the caucus.Findlay had already issued a written denial Monday, stating that “at no point was there any offer or discussion regarding MLA Ian Paton stepping down from his seat in exchange for a job of any description, salary, or position.” She maintained the only discussion of a possible future advisory role arose after Paton himself raised remaining involved in agriculture if he ever left office..In a separate clip from the same availability, Findlay addressed the timing of a different staff appointment involving former Abbotsford-Mission MLA Reann Gasper..Findlay said she offered Gasper the position of deputy chief of staff on August 24 — two days after Gasper publicly announced she was resigning to clear a path for the leader to run in a byelection. Gasper’s resignation created the only voluntary vacancy so far that gives Findlay a route into the legislature.The sequence undercuts any suggestion the Gasper staff role formed part of a pre-resignation inducement. Gasper had framed her decision as personal and motivated by the party’s larger goals.The denials come as the caucus continues to fracture. CBC legislative reporter Katie DeRosa reported Tuesday afternoon that she is hearing Prince George-Valemount MLA Rosalyn Bird will be the next to leave..Bird was among the MLAs who earlier confirmed they had turned down requests to resign their seats. Paton and Kamloops Centre MLA Peter Milobar have already quit to sit as independents and say they intend to form a new centre-right party. Findlay has described those departures as selfish and suggested some exits reflect personal leadership ambitions rather than differences over policy.Former Mission mayor Randy Hawes resigned Tuesday as president of the Abbotsford-Mission riding association, calling the pressure on MLAs to step aside “very wrong” and noting Findlay had not made the same request of her husband, Surrey South MLA Brent Chapman.Findlay remains without a seat in the legislature. The Tuesday video remarks form her clearest public response yet to the inducement claims while the party works to contain further exits.

Findlay denies offering anything in exchange for MLAs to step aside

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