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7th MLA quits BC Conservatives | Political Capital Daily · Political Capital with Rob Shaw

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  Speaker 2: Now on to the show.
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  Speaker 1: It's Tuesday, September 1st, 2026, and this is Political Capital Daily.
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  Speaker 2: Well, good morning. Good morning. Welcome to September, September the 1st.
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  Speaker 2: You know what that means?
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  Speaker 1: It's okay to start drinking the pumpkin spice again. It
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  Speaker 1: is okay to go get your Halloween costume. You want
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: to carve a pumpkin? It might be a little too
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  Speaker 1: early for that. Things are going to melt on your porch,
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  Speaker 1: but that's okay.
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  Speaker 2: We're here.
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  Speaker 1: It's not the fall yet, but it's September 1st. It's
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  Speaker 1: back to school. It's Labor Day. It's the fall classic.
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  Speaker 1: All the fun things are starting up as we get
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  Speaker 1: into September. Aileen Machel, former Deputy Chief of Staff to
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  Speaker 1: Premier David Eby, is with me this morning. Are you
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  Speaker 1: going to get your Halloween costume set up? Are you
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  Speaker 1: a big subscriber into the September fall changeover?
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  Speaker 3: I'm not really into pumpkin spice, but yes, I think
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  Speaker 3: if you're going to have a good Halloween costume, you
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  Speaker 3: should have started planning months ago.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, because they're all going to be sold out. You're
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  Speaker 1: going to be in Costco and the only thing left
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  Speaker 1: is some sort of wizard costume. And then you got
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  Speaker 1: to go as like some sort of comms wizard, something
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  Speaker 1: that's the lamest of all costumes.
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  Speaker 2: You just sit there and say no comment. You are banned!
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  Speaker 2: You are banned! From my wizard's mist! It's a whole thing. Anywho,
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  Speaker 2: good morning everyone.
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  Speaker 1: I think what we should do just to start off with,
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  Speaker 1: let's just check in on the conservative caucus here and
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  Speaker 1: see what.
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  Speaker 2: Oh.
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  Speaker 1: Man, that sound means they lost another MLA. Oh brother,
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  Speaker 1: that's one more MLA down for the BC conservatives.
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  Speaker 2: Who could it be? Let's have a listen.
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  Speaker 4: It became clear to me that I was going to
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  Speaker 4: be able to do a better job and focus more
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  Speaker 4: clearly on the issues and holding the NDP to account
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  Speaker 4: as an independent.
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  Speaker 1: That's Alia Warbus, Chilliwack Cultist Lake MLA, announcing her resignation,
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  Speaker 1: bringing to seven the number of MLAs leaving the BC Conservatives.
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  Speaker 1: Warbus said she's watched leader Carrie Lynn Finley make poor decisions,
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  Speaker 1: forced the departure of talented staff in the party, in
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  Speaker 1: the caucus, in the riding association. She's lost confidence in
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  Speaker 1: her leadership. There's a communications breakdown with MLAs and the public.
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  Speaker 1: She called it an implosion of events in the last
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  Speaker 1: little while, concerned about other MLAs who've left, the director
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  Speaker 1: of operations being fired, these enticement offers allegedly to certain MLAs,
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  Speaker 1: cancellation of caucus meetings. She had a lot to say
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  Speaker 1: about it. Let's just listen in to some of her
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  Speaker 1: thoughts from an interview here.
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  Speaker 4: You can only push people to divide so far and
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  Speaker 4: so long before... there's an exhaustion and people are just
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  Speaker 4: craving and looking for a bit of stability and normalcy.
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  Speaker 4: And I have to say that is the complete opposite
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  Speaker 4: of what I felt and what I've seen was happening
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  Speaker 4: inside of the caucus, inside of the party and in
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  Speaker 4: the direction we were going. It's like, no, let's take
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  Speaker 4: them further and further and further apart. Let's attack on
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  Speaker 4: these things. And it was becoming personal. It was becoming volatile.
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  Speaker 4: Some of it was becoming highly race-based. You know, I
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  Speaker 4: was starting to not recognize BC politics anymore in the
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  Speaker 4: conversations that were being had. And I just don't think
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  Speaker 4: that that's reflective of where people are at today. I
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  Speaker 4: don't think it's realistic and I don't think it's healthy.
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  Speaker 4: Leaders don't talk, they walk. They take action. And if
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  Speaker 4: I'm going to be the leader that I was elected
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  Speaker 4: to be, then I need to lead with that example
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  Speaker 4: and to do something that expresses exactly how I feel.
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  Speaker 4: And action, not in words.
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  Speaker 2: So a big loss for the Conservatives there, Aileen.
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  Speaker 1: What do you make of Alia Warbus putting her resignation
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  Speaker 1: in from the party?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think the term unprecedented is starting to be
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  Speaker 3: a bit overused when it comes to all of the
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  Speaker 3: wild things that we've seen happen with the BC Conservatives
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  Speaker 3: over the last couple of years. As a former staffer,
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  Speaker 3: I can only imagine the chaos that's going on behind
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  Speaker 3: the scenes in the opposition offices. You know, there are
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  Speaker 3: even questions about if they can even keep the staff
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  Speaker 3: that they have, given they're going to have significantly fewer funds.
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  Speaker 3: And of course, comms in this moment is probably trying
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  Speaker 3: their best to manage the story, but that seems like
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  Speaker 3: it's an impossible task at this point. So probably some
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  Speaker 3: flailing and panic happening behind the scenes. With respect to Alia,
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  Speaker 3: you know, I can understand why folks are leaving Carolyn
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  Speaker 3: Findlay's caucus. You know, just last week, she was asked
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  Speaker 3: how she would respond to Donald Trump. This is the
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  Speaker 3: guy who just put 50% tariffs on Canadian goods. It's
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  Speaker 3: going to hurt BC workers. He's been threatening to make
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  Speaker 3: Canada the 51st state for the last couple of years.
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  Speaker 3: He double-crossed Canada at the negotiating table. So Carrie Lynn Findlay,
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  Speaker 3: she's asked how she would respond to that bully, and
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  Speaker 3: she refused to denounce him, even when she was asked
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  Speaker 3: directly what she'd say to him. So we've seen Findlay,
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  Speaker 3: since she got in as leader and even in her campaign,
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  Speaker 3: copying the Trump playbook in many ways. You see those ridiculous,
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  Speaker 3: cringy AI ads, very similar to what Trump uses, her
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  Speaker 3: culture war nonsense, hiring separatists and far-right media figures. So
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  Speaker 3: when it comes to the MLAs, including Alia, who have left,
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  Speaker 3: I can understand how they want to get as far
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  Speaker 3: away from her as possible, given her views, but these
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  Speaker 3: defectors haven't actually been clear on what values they depart
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  Speaker 3: from Finlay on. You know, does it include anti-vaccine and
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  Speaker 3: climate conspiracies, for example, because we know that those weren't
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  Speaker 3: deal breakers for these people under John Rustad's leadership. So
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  Speaker 3: I think those will be the questions we hear. I
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  Speaker 3: think Sheldon Clare even brought up some of those questions
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  Speaker 3: today in a Prince George media interview. And so they'll
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  Speaker 3: have those questions to answer to as well in the
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  Speaker 3: coming days and weeks.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, a consequential loss for the Conservatives, I think, because
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  Speaker 1: Warbus was A superstar get for them prior to the
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  Speaker 1: 2024 election, an Indigenous female leader in her community, her
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  Speaker 1: father's former lieutenant governor, Stephen Point.
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  Speaker 2: They brought her into the fold.
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  Speaker 1: She articulated, I think, very reasonably and strongly a position
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  Speaker 1: for the Conservatives to repeal DRIPA based on advancing reconciliation,
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  Speaker 1: which gave them credibility on that file. And that's gone now.
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  Speaker 1: And I look at the remaining Conservative caucus, I'm not
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  Speaker 1: sure how they realize the consequence of that loss in
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  Speaker 1: advancing on that position as well. Now they are down
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  Speaker 1: to 30 MLAs, 12 more is the countdown to lose
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  Speaker 1: official opposition status. Aileen, there was a secret caucus meeting
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  Speaker 1: or just a gathering of MLAs who happened to be
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  Speaker 1: in the Lower Manland, depending on your version of it,
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  Speaker 1: at a private residence yesterday without leader Carrie Lynn Finlay.
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  Speaker 2: She cancelled the.
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  Speaker 1: The caucus meeting that was kind of overshadowed by threats
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  Speaker 1: of exodus by certain MLAs saying she wants to focus
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  Speaker 1: on the by-election. Caucus meetings slash gatherings of MLAs without
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  Speaker 1: the leader are pretty bad, I think.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a bad sign. It's a bad sign. It's
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  Speaker 2: a bad sign.
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  Speaker 1: As you're watching all this play out, where do you
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  Speaker 1: think we're going on this file and how bad is
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  Speaker 1: it for the leader.
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  Speaker 2: Do you think?
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  Speaker 4: Hmm.
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  Speaker 3: Well, we've been talking for some time on earlier episodes
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  Speaker 3: of Political Capital Daily about some of her positions, including
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  Speaker 3: the linkages to separatism, for example. And I predicted back
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  Speaker 3: then that there would be MLAs in her caucus who
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  Speaker 3: were deeply uncomfortable being attached to those alleged linkages. And
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  Speaker 3: so I think that we can bet on more MLAs
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  Speaker 3: to come. You can play that noise again on your
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  Speaker 3: next podcast, perhaps.
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  Speaker 2: And certainly.
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  Speaker 3: There are lots of questions that we're seeing online about
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  Speaker 3: who's going to be the next one.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: And how many and how long it goes on for.
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  Speaker 1: And I think the, the way that it's happening right now,
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  Speaker 1: a person a day almost is, is kind of, you know,
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  Speaker 1: worse for the leader than if seven people just resigned
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  Speaker 1: in one day, it perpetuates the cycle. It creates the
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  Speaker 1: appearance of chaos, which is the accurate appearance. But it,
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  Speaker 1: It doesn't allow the party to move on. They put
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  Speaker 1: out press releases today on other topics.
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  Speaker 2: I didn't even read them. I just looked at them
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  Speaker 2: and kind of laughed.
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  Speaker 1: Like the conservative caucus would like to talk about some
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  Speaker 1: random file.
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  Speaker 2: Like that is.
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  Speaker 1: Not happening in a cycle where people are quitting publicly
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  Speaker 1: with the leader. So it kind of paralyzes the party
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  Speaker 1: in a way from being able to turn the page.
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  Speaker 2: Yes.
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  Speaker 3: And it's happening at a time when she is trying
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  Speaker 3: to win a seat in the legislature in the by-election election.
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  Speaker 3: So the timing of these stories as they're kind of
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  Speaker 3: leaking out every single day with a new one, it's
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  Speaker 3: just another hit at a time when she is hoping
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  Speaker 3: to not have those distractions.
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  Speaker 1: We will watch that later today and bring you the
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  Speaker 1: latest tomorrow. Also today, if you're planning out your political agenda,
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  Speaker 1: Premier David Eby is up with a public press conference
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  Speaker 1: at 9.30pm. where he will take all manner of questions
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  Speaker 1: on BC political developments. I'm sure he's going to be
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  Speaker 1: asked about the Conservatives. I think last time he was asked,
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  Speaker 1: he called it, what did he call it, Chaos Factory.
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  Speaker 2: Or something like that?
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  Speaker 3: Chaos Central.
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  Speaker 1: Chaos Central, which sounds like a cable news channel in
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  Speaker 1: the United States. But nonetheless, I'm sure you'll get asked
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  Speaker 1: about that. He's in Burnaby with the education minister, Lisa Baer,
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: and the Burnaby Board of Education chair, timed as, of course,
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  Speaker 1: these back-to-school annual kind of press conferences with politicians talking
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  Speaker 1: about education investments and school funding and that type of thing.
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  Speaker 1: An annual mark, much like Pumpkin Spice, on the annual calendar,
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  Speaker 1: the back-to-school calendar. press conferences from politicians, even if they
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  Speaker 1: don't necessarily have anything to say, I think they're kind
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  Speaker 1: of obligated to appear at schools showing that they're cognizant
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  Speaker 1: of this big moment in the calendar for a lot
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  Speaker 1: of families.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, for sure. And it is a perennial event in government,
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  Speaker 3: this sort of week of back to school announcements. Sometimes
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  Speaker 3: it's childcare, sometimes it's school construction and groundbreakings and that
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  Speaker 3: sort of thing. But If you look at the contrast
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  Speaker 3: in approach on education between different governments and parties, education
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  Speaker 3: is one that really stands out. And I think that's
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  Speaker 3: why the BC NDP always makes a big deal out
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  Speaker 3: of these back-to-school events. You know, you look at the
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  Speaker 3: record of the old BC Liberal government and some remain
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  Speaker 3: in the BC Conservative caucus or the other parties on
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  Speaker 3: the right. You know, they closed, you know, more than
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  Speaker 3: 200 schools, froze the capital budget for eight years. They
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  Speaker 3: made cuts. And so I think that BC NDP... is
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  Speaker 3: going to pounce on any opportunity they can to show
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  Speaker 3: that the BC Conservatives and other parties on the right
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  Speaker 3: would continue to make cuts if they had the chance.
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  Speaker 3: You know, an example that they often point to is
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  Speaker 3: Conservative MLA Tony Luck saying that education and health care
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  Speaker 3: are the two biggest line items in the budget, and
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  Speaker 3: they're the ones that are going to have to take
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  Speaker 3: the brunt of this, because that's him saying the quiet
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  Speaker 3: part out loud in terms of the BC Conservative approach.
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  Speaker 2: Which is true.
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  Speaker 1: Like, if you're going to cut the budget, it's impossible. Anyways,
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  Speaker 1: if you cut the budget, it's impossible. Like, 40% of
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  Speaker 1: it is health care.
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  Speaker 2: Somebody's going to... Anyway. It is, I get it, but
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  Speaker 2: it's also, you probably.
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  Speaker 1: Shouldn't say it out loud on that, but it'd be
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  Speaker 1: foolish to imagine a government controlling the budget without controlling
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  Speaker 1: health care spending because it's.
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  Speaker 2: Just so, so large.
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  Speaker 1: But that's a whole other show. We could spend a
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  Speaker 1: whole show on just that. We're going to come back
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  Speaker 1: to the education issue in a second because we want
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  Speaker 1: to talk about Lisa Baer's press conference, which is both
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: from yesterday on schools and child care and some other things.
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  Speaker 2: I just want to take a quick break here for
• 12:07
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  Speaker 2: Thanks to Airbnb for its support. Back to the show.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: All right, catching up on a couple other stories.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: We were just talking about this, but the education minister
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: was in Nanaimo talking about after-school care, before and after-school care,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: some money for 22 school districts, 1,200 new spaces, some
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: capital funding put aside, $ 5 million to help support those
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: renovations of spaces, money that was in the budget.
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  Speaker 2: I know.
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  Speaker 1: Aileen, you've worked in government where you end up in
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: that position where you're re-announcing money that's in the budget,
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: but you're announcing it kind of for what it's for later,
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: but it's also not new money per se. That's kind
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: of what this is. But I guess the value is
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: that it points to actual things in the real world
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: versus on budget day when it's just a kind of
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: ephemeral discussion of a line item kind of thing. So
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: that's my guess on why governments re-announce these things.
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  Speaker 3: Well, that's right. I mean, the budget is where the
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: money is unveiled. And then, you know, through the year
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: and in the years ahead, as the details come together,
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: they can provide progress updates on an issue that is
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: really important to British Columbians. Lots of British Columbians depend
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: on childcare so that folks can go to work. And
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: it's also something that's really important right now as we
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: talk about, you know, the need to protect jobs and
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: strengthen our economy because we know Childcare is so important
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: as part of that work.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: Other items from yesterday, just to bring up here, Attorney
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: General Nikki Sharma was out with a statement calling on Meta,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to implement safeguards
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: in Canada for children after.
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  Speaker 2: An $ 18.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: Billion settlement in the United States over addictive algorithms on
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: its software contributing to harms against youth. You might remember
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: the BC government has been beating that particular drum for
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: a couple of years now, threatening to go after the
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: big tech companies for the mental health and addictions harms
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: caused particularly against children. Sharma said she wants to see
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: the safeguards in the U.S. for kids under 18, which
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: include a really interesting default two-hour cap on usage implemented
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: in Canada as well. Presumably, Alien BC wants a taste
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: of the sweet Canadian settlement money as well. I can't
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: imagine Meta can get out of settling this in the U.S.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: And not elsewhere.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: Money that I think the government expects to get at
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: some point, based on what I've heard the Premier and
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: the Attorney General say over at least the last couple
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: of years when it comes to big tech.
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: It's a big day. I mean, it is very significant
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: that Meta has made commitments to change its actual product
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: design to be safer for children. And this court case,
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: it's not something that's happened yet in Canada, but it
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: shows that the court can be an effective way of
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: creating changes. Companies do care about the bottom line, but
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: this settlement is significant, not just on the monetary side,
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: but on the policy side. And it shows that there
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: can be impacts on kids, and it shows that the
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: courts can be an effective process. Advocates have been calling
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: for product design changes for some time, and we've seen
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: Premier and Deputy Premier Nikki Sharma being outspoken champions on
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: this issue. So I think it's something that we can
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: watch in the coming year for further action.
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  Speaker 4: Mm-hmm.
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  Speaker 1: We'll see if the other provinces get together, because I
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: think they were much stronger in going after the tech
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: companies kind of as a unified front than just a
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: single kind of province picking away at it, including with
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: class actions on vaping and tobacco and different things that
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: the government has.
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  Speaker 2: Helped push as well.
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  Speaker 1: So that's something to watch. One other topic I want
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: to touch on here, a new polling out by what's
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: called the Public Land Use Society, which is an organization
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: critical of governments' land transfer decisions on public land to
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: First Nations. showing 86% of British Columbians surveyed believe that
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: major changes to governing of land, including how decisions are
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: made on public lands and natural resources, should have to
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: receive public approval before taking effect. 77% of people believe
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  Speaker 1: all Canadians should have the same rights, not special land
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: access rights for First Nations, and 73% found all natural
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: resources should be managed equally. For all British Columbians, an
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: abacus data survey of 1,000 people in July, a margin
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: of error of 3%, 19 times out of 20.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: I don't know, Aileen.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: Everyone's got a survey these days about everything. But I
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: think what they're trying to illustrate is some sort of
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: public sentiment, I think, that many of the land treaty
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: transfer agreements with nations have surprised the public, including here
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: with a treaty in the South Island, Hatley Castle and
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: Royal Roads, and seem to be having a kind of
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: visceral reaction in the public sentiment sometimes when this type
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: of thing is revealed.
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: Well, of course people want to say in how land
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: is used, and that's why consultation happens. But it's easy
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: to say there's no consultation, and it's much harder to
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: get people to actually participate in the consultation process as
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: it happened in government, and I think that's something that
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: government finds. Perhaps there could be new ways of letting
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: folks know how to participate, for instance. I think some
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: of these agreements started under previous governments and are now
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: being consulted on under the current government. And some of them,
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: particularly treaties, can take decades to negotiate. And I'm not
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: overly familiar with the Public Land Use Society, but I'll
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: have to check them out and learn their story and
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: who's behind it.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: It is one of those things where covering, especially the
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: South Island treaties that have been going on negotiations for,
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: in some cases, almost 30 years, and they get to
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: this final stage and there's been... all these consultations that
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: no one attended. And then suddenly a website goes up
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: with the land and people go, what the heck is this?
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: You know, and it is a challenge to consult, but
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: also a challenge to respond when, when kind of the
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: public sentiment suddenly appears like a wave, you know, far
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: down a process. So, but again, like we could do
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: a whole show on that. We don't have time. We
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: don't have time. We are out of time. this morning
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: for Political Capital Daily. Aileen, thank you so much for
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: being here.
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: Thanks, Rob.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: Sorry to everyone who heard my cat in the background
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: early in the morning. She gets a little active for
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: the food.
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: That's okay. Hi, Ophelia.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: It's just part of producing a daily podcast, folks. We'll
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: be back tomorrow with all the latest NBC politics here
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: on Political Capital Daily.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: Take care.