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Double Trouble for KLF | Political Capital Daily · Political Capital with Rob Shaw

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  Speaker 1: the show. It's Thursday, September 3rd, 2026, and this is
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  Speaker 1: Political Capital Daily. Well, good morning. Happy Thursday to you
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  Speaker 1: as we approach the end of the week. It is
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  Speaker 1: in sight on the horizon. Jillian Oliver from Political Capital
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  Speaker 1: Prime joining me. Jillian, thanks for being here.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.
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  Speaker 3: It's good to be back.
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  Speaker 1: I'm asking everyone this week, do you have your Halloween
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  Speaker 1: costume picked out yet? September the 2nd.
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  Speaker 3: I'm thinking of wearing my six-year-old's dragon cape. in case
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  Speaker 3: I don't come up with anything else beforehand.
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  Speaker 1: What's your six-year-old going to wear then?
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  Speaker 3: I think he's deciding between Spider-Man and Batman.
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  Speaker 1: Ah, well, I mean, there's no choice there. It's Batman.
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  Speaker 1: Seven days a week, but we'll let the youngster make
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  Speaker 1: his own mistakes. Okay, we got a lot to get
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  Speaker 1: into this show. We got all sorts of things that
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  Speaker 1: are occurring out there. Well, okay, we know what that means.
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  Speaker 1: That means... On sound of another BC Conservative quitting caucus
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  Speaker 1: over leader Carrie Lynn Finlay. You know, it's kind of
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  Speaker 1: one of those things where.
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  Speaker 2: Oh my God.
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  Speaker 1: It's a double play day. It is a double play
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  Speaker 1: day of Conservatives quitting caucus. Jillian, we have two of
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  Speaker 1: them that are queued up here. Let's just see if
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  Speaker 1: you can identify them, if you haven't figured out who
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  Speaker 1: these folks are.
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  Speaker 4: I respect that the members elected Carrie Lynn Finlay. And
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  Speaker 4: when I looked myself in the mirror and said that
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  Speaker 4: I could not go out and door knock and look
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  Speaker 4: people in the eyes and ask them to support her,
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  Speaker 4: that's when I removed myself from the caucus.
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  Speaker 5: An accumulation of events, which ultimately, you know, made me
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  Speaker 5: realize that this is the decision I had to make.
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  Speaker 1: That is Boundaries Simoca means Donegal Wilson, Columbia River Revelstokes,
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  Speaker 1: Scott McInnes, both out as MLAs as of yesterday. The
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  Speaker 1: party's Star Indigenous relations critic, McInnes, that's a big one,
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  Speaker 1: and both describing Finlay as a step backwards for the party,
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  Speaker 1: out of alignment with their values, unable to defeat the NDP,
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  Speaker 1: all sorts of ethical concerns. Jillian, not good.
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  Speaker 2: Not good.
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  Speaker 1: Did anything come to mind when you heard two more
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  Speaker 1: MLAs in one day had left the party?
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  Speaker 3: I mean, I think the biggest thing that comes to
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  Speaker 3: mind is that it's really remarkable that the Conservatives had
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  Speaker 3: this whole leadership race, which was quite well run. You know,
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  Speaker 3: we all thought at the time they had really professional
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  Speaker 3: people running it and a whole really carefully well thought
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  Speaker 3: out rules, only to end up with a leader who
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  Speaker 3: is worse at caucus management than John Rustad, which was
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  Speaker 3: like the big thing with him, right? It's really, really remarkable.
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  Speaker 1: It is a caucus management issue for sure. I think
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  Speaker 1: you're right on that because, you know, Wilson telling me,
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  Speaker 1: she wanted an emergency meeting of caucus to address a
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  Speaker 1: bunch of things that had happened. All these resignations, Finley
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  Speaker 1: wouldn't do it. Canceled that meeting at the last minute.
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  Speaker 1: McInnes and others talking about kind of a lack of direction.
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  Speaker 1: Some others have talked about never even really speaking to Finley.
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  Speaker 1: Like don't hear from her. Just kind of, she only
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  Speaker 1: speaks to the small crew of people who support her
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  Speaker 1: and her senior staff. And it's not, I guess we forget.
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  Speaker 1: And you've been in a caucus. Uh, I'll be at
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  Speaker 1: a smaller one. Um, how important it is to have
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  Speaker 1: communication so that people don't just feel alienated when decisions
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  Speaker 1: are made.
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  Speaker 3: It's critical. And there's so much to being a party
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  Speaker 3: leader that goes on behind the scenes and that, that
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  Speaker 3: people don't see. And I think, you know, it's challenging
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  Speaker 3: to convey that kind of thing in a leadership race,
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  Speaker 3: but I think there was like a number of red flags.
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  Speaker 3: If you think back to the debates and, when Finlay
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  Speaker 3: went after Peter Milibar in such a personal way, going
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  Speaker 3: after his family and their heritage, I think, you know,
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  Speaker 3: you kind of have to think to yourself, is this
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  Speaker 3: going to be a leader that's going to be able
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  Speaker 3: to keep the party together? And I think it sort
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  Speaker 3: of begs the question, does the Conservative base want the
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  Speaker 3: party to be together in the sense that it's like a,
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  Speaker 3: you know, a centre-right coalition party? It seems like that's
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  Speaker 3: not the case, that they really want almost like this
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  Speaker 3: purge to be happening, only I think now they're losing
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  Speaker 3: people that maybe they, you know, some of those diehard
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  Speaker 3: conservatives wouldn't want to see go.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, some of them are definitely of the mindset of
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  Speaker 1: if you leave, that's great because you're obviously a secret
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  Speaker 1: liberal who isn't a loyal conservative and you should never
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  Speaker 1: have been there in the first place and will purify
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  Speaker 1: the party kind of thing. But that is becoming harder
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  Speaker 1: and harder as more and more people leave. Here is
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  Speaker 1: Wilson and McInnes just talking a bit more about why
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  Speaker 1: they left.
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  Speaker 4: It comes from how you choose to lead, who you
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  Speaker 4: choose to surround yourself with and how you communicate as
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  Speaker 4: part of a team. And I think all three of
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  Speaker 4: those things were worrisome to me. And if you look
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  Speaker 4: at May 30th, when she took leadership of the party,
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  Speaker 4: I mean, we were ahead in the polls. The caucus
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  Speaker 4: had just come off a very good spring session. I
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  Speaker 4: was proud to be part of the work that we
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  Speaker 4: did during that session. And I mean, it was hers to,
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  Speaker 4: to take to government. And here we are three months
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  Speaker 4: later and I referenced it in the, in the letter.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, every indication of success is, is not there.
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  Speaker 4: And I feel that the people at Boundaries to Milkmean, uh,
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  Speaker 4: weren't being represented. We were focused on fringe issues that
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  Speaker 4: were not important to the constituents of the Boundaries to Milkmean.
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  Speaker 5: You know, but it sort of became clear over the
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  Speaker 5: summer that, uh, you know, there wasn't a tremendous lack
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  Speaker 5: of direction and we didn't have those sort of strategy
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  Speaker 5: sessions that I was hoping for. And, you know, we
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  Speaker 5: were kind of behind on some big stories and things
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  Speaker 5: like that. So, you know, that was part of it.
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  Speaker 5: Obviously there were, you know, you don't have to search
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  Speaker 5: too far to find in the news that there were some,
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  Speaker 5: you know, I think ethical questions raised about some of
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  Speaker 5: the individuals that the leader had brought on board to
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  Speaker 5: help her make decisions. And, you know, for me, I'm
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  Speaker 5: a person of integrity, first and foremost, and above all else,
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  Speaker 5: I'm here to represent my constituents. And, you know, as
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  Speaker 5: time went on here, the discussions here in Columbia River
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  Speaker 5: Revelstoke got louder that although people, you know, really appreciate
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  Speaker 5: me as their MLA, they just couldn't envision themselves supporting
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  Speaker 5: the Conservative Party moving forward. Yeah, you know what? The
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  Speaker 5: reality is there will be people that are unhappy with
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  Speaker 5: it and call me selfish and everything else, and that's fine.
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  Speaker 5: That's their opinion. But I certainly don't put a lot
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  Speaker 5: of stock into that as far as what I think
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  Speaker 5: the majority of my constituents expect from me. Since I
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  Speaker 5: made this decision just a short time ago, the support
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  Speaker 5: has been somewhat overwhelming. you know, calls from local government stakeholders,
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  Speaker 5: my neighbors. So, you know what, if people want to
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  Speaker 5: go online and call me a traitor or a liberal
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  Speaker 5: or whatever, I don't particularly put a lot of time
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  Speaker 5: and effort into, you know, what other people think about that.
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  Speaker 1: Some people are doing just that, Jillian, in response to that.
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  Speaker 1: But what do you make of when you hear the
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  Speaker 1: MLAs kind of sketch out some of their concerns there?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think both these MLAs sound like
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  Speaker 3: they're really, like, concerned about being able to represent their
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  Speaker 3: community under the conservative banner. Um, we also heard the
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  Speaker 3: same thing from, uh, Rosalind Byrd, who is like an
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  Speaker 3: OG conservative, um, that she just felt like she was getting,
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  Speaker 3: you know, a flood of, of concerns from her constituents. And, um,
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  Speaker 3: I think that should probably trouble conservative, you know, the
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  Speaker 3: remaining MLAs and people behind the conservatives most of all,
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  Speaker 3: like if you're, if your MLAs are are, are really
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  Speaker 3: feeling that in their community, then that's like a really
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  Speaker 3: big problem for you. So, um, we haven't talked yet
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  Speaker 3: about like, there's so much going on here, but, uh,
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  Speaker 3: the senior staff now her like top two most senior
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  Speaker 3: staff have either been fired or resigned. Um, and it's,
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  Speaker 3: you know, it goes to judgment, right? It does.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: That you mentioned her chief of staff, Chris Delaney, who
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  Speaker 1: announced his resignation in yesterday, just minutes before a leaked
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  Speaker 1: audio recording of him, went online talking about First Nations
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  Speaker 1: peoples as natives on a rant about how he believes
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  Speaker 1: they basically starved to death historically because they weren't smart
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  Speaker 1: enough to make more food, like white people who then
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  Speaker 1: introduced conservation principles to them in the audio recording. He's
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  Speaker 1: also at the center of On RCMP, questioning or investigation
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  Speaker 1: into whether he offered a job and salary equivalent to
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  Speaker 1: an MLA's pay to Ian Payton. If he quit the
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  Speaker 1: RCMP interviewing Payton yesterday, he told me he went to
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  Speaker 1: E-Division headquarters in Surrey to talk to them. Delaney goes
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  Speaker 1: out with his letter resigning. It was only online for
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  Speaker 1: a brief period of time. It is a bizarre read
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  Speaker 1: on Conservative Party news. letterhead full of all sorts of stuff.
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  Speaker 1: I can't really do it justice in speaking it out loud.
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  Speaker 1: So we'll just go with this reproduction of what I
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  Speaker 1: imagine it sounds like if he was reading his own letter.
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  Speaker 2: This by election will decide the future of B.C. Whether B.C.
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  Speaker 2: will have a chance to remain a sovereign and free
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  Speaker 2: province with equal rights for all citizens. Oregon, whether it
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  Speaker 2: will descend into a monstrous hybrid of soft tyranny and
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  Speaker 2: dictatorship with remnants of a past democracy. The enemies of B.C.
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  Speaker 2: And the enemies of democracy, like those who have walked
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  Speaker 2: away in previous days, are determined to prevaricate, misrepresent, mischaracterize,
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  Speaker 2: and outright lie to try and stop Kerry Lynn from
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  Speaker 2: standing in their way of delivering B.C. into their hands.
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  Speaker 1: Much better than if I had narrated that letter. That's
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  Speaker 1: very highly accurate. It's fascinating to have the chief of
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  Speaker 1: staff on party letterhead saying the MLAs who have quit
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  Speaker 1: the party, who have probably been in the party longer
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  Speaker 1: than he has, are enemies of democracy, which I just
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  Speaker 1: thought was a talk about rhetoric. Like, holy moly, what
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  Speaker 1: are we doing here? Enemies of democracy, the tyranny and
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  Speaker 1: dictatorship of the province?
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  Speaker 4: Like, bizarre.
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  Speaker 1: Truly bizarre stuff there.
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  Speaker 3: Especially when you are, you know, potentially facing an RCMP
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  Speaker 3: investigation for subverting democracy yourself.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Not to be outdone, but Finlay herself puts out a
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  Speaker 1: statement yesterday. You know, God forbid she does any interviews
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  Speaker 1: or anything, but she basically says this is all a
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  Speaker 1: big conspiracy against her to derail her by-election race in
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  Speaker 1: Abbotsford Mission. And she says the allegations are baseless, and
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  Speaker 1: it doesn't really say what the allegations are. I guess
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  Speaker 1: we're talking about everything. What we're seeing is a coordinated
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  Speaker 1: political attack designed to sidetrack our campaign at the very
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  Speaker 1: moment we're taking our message directly to the people of
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  Speaker 1: Abbott's for admission. So you have all these things happening,
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  Speaker 1: no apologies, no acknowledgement of anything, no expression of concern,
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  Speaker 1: no outreach, no olive branch, nothing. Just everything is a
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  Speaker 1: conspiracy and everything is out to get me, including the
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  Speaker 1: chief of staff. And it's, yeah, I guess it's an
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  Speaker 1: interesting strategy, but I don't know. What do you think?
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  Speaker 3: I mean, it's hard. Like, I feel like early on,
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  Speaker 3: the NDP tried so hard to sort of tied the, like,
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  Speaker 3: Maple Mega label to them, and everybody was like, ah,
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  Speaker 3: you're going too far, that's, like, an easy out to
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  Speaker 3: sort of, like, say they're the same, but they're really
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  Speaker 3: not doing themselves any favors, like, this is really straight
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  Speaker 3: from the Trump playbook of just, like, double down, anyone
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  Speaker 3: who opposes you is, like, an enemy, and, like, you know, it's, it's,
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  Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, I don't know, I think it just,
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  Speaker 3: it seems like she has not even though she's had
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  Speaker 3: a long career in politics has not had to face
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  Speaker 3: this kind, this level of criticism, um, or spotlight, uh, before.
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  Speaker 3: And now we're starting to see, um, that she doesn't
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  Speaker 3: have great instincts when it comes to this sort of thing.
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  Speaker 1: Or that when she faced it in Ottawa under Pierre
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  Speaker 1: Polyev and to a certain extent, Stephen Harper, it was
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  Speaker 1: easier to just kind of blame the media, the elites,
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  Speaker 1: the liberals, uh, all these folks. And that, that is
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  Speaker 1: her strategy. And here, It doesn't make sense when you
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  Speaker 1: have original kind of conservatives like Bruce Bannman and other
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  Speaker 1: people quitting. The explanation falls short when people kind of
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  Speaker 1: hear it out loud. So that is interesting. The number
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  Speaker 1: of MLAs now, nine have quit in 19 days. The
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  Speaker 1: caucus is down to 28 from a high of 44
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  Speaker 1: when it was elected two years ago. And the magic
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  Speaker 1: number is now 10. If 10 more conservative MLAs quit,
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  Speaker 1: the party could lose officially. opposition status when the legislature
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  Speaker 1: comes back in October at this rate. That is not
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  Speaker 1: impossible and may not even take very long. Let's just
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: take a quick break here. I know we inverted the
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  Speaker 1: show today doing the big news up front instead of
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: what's coming up later today, but why don't we take
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  Speaker 1: a quick break and then get into that. All right,
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  Speaker 1: its ongoing support. Back to the show. All right, Gillian,
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: not a lot happening today. We'll kind of run through
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: it here and then talk a bit about that. But
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: Labor Minister Jennifer Whiteside is supposed to be up this
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: morning on a skilled trades training announcement at Vancouver Community College.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: That one may be on the bubble. We'll have to
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: check on that later today. Premier David Eby up in
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: Prince George for what is billed as a nation-building clean
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: energy milestone. He's got the Federal Natural Resources Minister Tim
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: Hodgson there. And he has the Federal Housing Minister Gregor
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: Robertson there as well with an event that starts at
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: 11 a.m. And there may be some sort of TransLink
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: announcement today coming up involving new routes for the transit
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: authority in Metro Vancouver. Man, tough for any of those events,
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: I think, Jillian, to make their way through the news
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: cycle when it is just the chaos of all of
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: the conservative developments taking the spotlight.
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think if the government's got any good,
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: really big positive news, they probably want to get it
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: in after Labor Day. Um, but it sounds like I
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: have had to guess, I'd say the Prince George announcement
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: with the premiers might be about the North coast transmission line. Um,
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: just kind of trying to continue to have good news
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: about the major projects that they're, they're moving along. Um,
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  Speaker 3: even though they're going to take a long time to
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  Speaker 3: go to come to fruition.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: It's, uh, sure. There'll be hundreds of announcements on that
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  Speaker 1: North coast transmission line as it takes to 2034. I
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: think it is before it's done. Uh, so we hear
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  Speaker 1: a lot about that.
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  Speaker 2: Okay.
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  Speaker 1: Well, that is a, wrap-up of the day, and depending
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  Speaker 1: on when you listen to this, more people may have resigned.
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  Speaker 1: Who knows? Can't be responsible for that, but that's 5 a.m.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: That is where we are at. Jillian, thanks so much
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: for being here on The Daily Show. I really appreciate it.
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: My pleasure.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: And Political Capital Prime is going to be back with everyone,
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: all the familiar sort of faces, on Friday, the 11th
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: of September. So mark your calendars for that. No Political
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: Capital Prime this week, but next Friday and tomorrow. We
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: shall be back with another edition of Political Capital Daily.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for tuning in. We'll talk to you tomorrow.