A private investigator was hired to look into sitting British Columbia Conservative members of the legislature, the party’s former president and at least one journalist, according to several of the people named, in revelations that have deepened a leadership crisis inside the Opposition party.
CBC News reported that former B.C. Conservative MLAs and the party’s former president say the investigator was retained to scrutinize their activities. Sources cited by the broadcaster and by The Canadian Press allege the hiring was arranged by Elaine Allan, who was brought on as the party’s executive director in early August and dismissed by the board later the same month. The arrangement came to light this week when the investigator contacted the party seeking payment for work already completed, according to those accounts.
The list of people said to have been examined runs to roughly a dozen names and includes current caucus member Claire Rattee, along with Rosalyn Bird, Brennan Day, Aʼa꞉líya Warbus and Amelia Boultbee, according to CBC. Veteran legislature journalist Rob Shaw has also been identified as a target. Reporting by The Globe and Mail said the effort was connected to a push to unmask the person behind the “Findlay Files” account on the social media platform X, which has been critical of the leader.
Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay told reporters Thursday she played no part in the arrangement and did not know it existed. “I had no knowledge of it. I was unaware of it,” she said, adding that the party is looking into the allegations.
The disclosures prompted an emergency caucus meeting in downtown Vancouver late Wednesday, where at least two MLAs asked Findlay to resign, according to accounts given to CTV News and The Canadian Press. She declined. Findlay said Thursday she is “not going anywhere” and told reporters she would welcome a snap election, a position she has repeated as pressure inside the party has grown.
Nine MLAs have left the Conservative caucus since Findlay took over as leader at the end of May, most citing concerns about her leadership. Day, the MLA for Courtenay-Comox, who quit the party recently, said confirmation of the surveillance effort validated his decision. “It is impossible to point your guns outward at the government when you’re too busy pointing them inward at your own caucus,” he said.
The private investigator allegations land on top of a separate police matter. Delta South MLA Ian Paton has confirmed that RCMP officers are scheduled to interview him about allegations Findlay offered him a paid advisory role in exchange for giving up his seat. Findlay, who won the leadership without holding a seat in the legislature, would have needed a sitting member to step aside to contest a byelection. She has rejected the accusation outright, saying she categorically rejects any suggestion that she engaged in illegal or unethical conduct.
The Conservatives formed the official Opposition after the 2024 provincial election, holding the governing New Democrats to a razor-thin majority. The departures of the past month have eroded that standing, leaving the party with a shrinking caucus, an unresolved police file and a leader who says she has no intention of stepping aside.
