Byelection called as B.C. Conservative leader faces questions over leaked audio

A byelection has been called in British Columbia after a B.C. Conservative MLA resigned last week, giving leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay a chance to sit in the legislature.

But in many ways, the timing could not be worse for Findlay, whose caucus has lost six MLAs in recent weeks.

An audio recording appeared on social media Thursday of a person who sounds like Findlay saying she thought if someone stepped aside as a legislator, “I could give them a role as senior adviser in their same portfolio.”

The MLA who resigned, Reann Gasper, has since become Findlay’s deputy chief of staff.

Findlay has addressed the recording and said suggestions it shows her illegally offering jobs to legislators in exchange for resigning so she could stand in a byelection are “preposterous.”

The B.C. Conservative leader currently does not hold a seat in the legislature. The byelection is set for Sept. 26.

Trevor Bolin, the party’s former leader, said the timing of the audio’s release “couldn’t be worse” because of various issues facing the Conservatives.

“I think, you know, Kerri-Lynne needs to get a handle on not only her leadership with the caucus, but as well as the MLAs and the members in British Columbia,” Bolin told Global News.

Findlay said on social media Thursday that it appeared the “unverified” audio recording was made at a July caucus meeting, calling it a “political smear job.”

It is illegal under the Criminal Code to negotiate a reward or benefit related to resignation from political office, but Findlay said the comments in the recording, published by an anonymous account known as “The Findlay Files,” were “normal political discussions” that did not constitute a criminal offence.

In addition to the Criminal Code bribery prohibition, which is subject to up to five years’ prison, BC legislature standing orders ban the offer of money or other advantages to members for promoting any matter “depending or to be transacted” in the house.

“However, generally speaking, the RCMP does not confirm or deny any investigation, or the identity of any person who may be subject to an investigation, until such time as charges have been laid,” a spokesperson said in an email Friday.

It’s not only the audio hanging over Findlay going into a byelection. Six MLAs have left the party in the past month, four of them in the past week.

The exodus began Aug. 14, when longtime MLA Peter Milobar announced he would leave the party to sit as an independent.