Rethinking Weekly Dinner Rotations

Philip Wolf, editor for PQB News and the Vancouver Island Free Daily, is reflecting on why certain affordable and delicious dishes rarely make it onto the regular family menu.

After finishing two cobs of corn during a recent dinner, Wolf noted that while corn on the cob is easy to prepare, budget-friendly, and accessible throughout the year, his family only consumes it a few times annually. Canned corn appears frequently, yet fresh cobs remain an infrequent treat alongside other items like Brussels sprouts and stuffing, which often stay reserved for holiday meals like Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Holiday Foods and Seasonal Treats

Wolf observed a similar pattern with seasonal desserts and holiday staples. Items such as Nanaimo bars, Halloween chocolates, and his mother’s peach upside-down pudding cake—baked by his son each Christmas—are limited due to their rich nature. However, nutritious options like Brussels sprouts and corn on the cob could easily appear more often without waiting for special occasions.

Premier Addresses Election Speculation and Opposition Turnover

Premier David Eby declined to offer a definitive answer when asked if British Columbians could be headed to the polls early, following a wave of departures from the B.C. Conservative caucus. Speaking at a press conference in Burnaby on Tuesday, Sept. 1, Eby was asked directly for a yes-or-no commitment on calling a snap election. Instead of giving a clear stance, he stated that his administration is preparing for the upcoming fall legislative session and noted that the opposition party is experiencing substantial internal turmoil.

Eby emphasized that the government’s primary focus remains on serving the public. Meanwhile, the B.C. Conservative caucus has seen its numbers fall significantly. After electing 44 MLAs in 2024, the party has lost 14 members, including seven who departed in August citing issues regarding newly appointed Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay.

Abbotsford-Mission Byelection Scheduled for Sept. 26

Among those who left the Conservative fold is former Abbotsford-Mission MLA Reann Gasper, who stepped down from her seat on Aug. 22 to clear a path for Findlay to run. Eby officially called the byelection for that riding on Aug. 29, setting election day for Saturday, Sept. 26. Addressing the race on Tuesday, Eby criticized Gasper’s tenure, stating she bluntly and completely failed her constituents during her time in office. He added that he moved quickly to schedule the vote because local residents deserve dedicated representation.

The race in Abbotsford-Mission will feature NDP candidate Pam Alexis running against Findlay. Alexis previously represented the area and served as the minister of agriculture and food, in addition to being a former mayor of Mission. Although Gasper won the seat over Alexis in the 2024 general election following a redrawing of riding boundaries, Alexis is returning to contest the seat for the governing party.

By Chad Dashly | The Current

The BC Conservatives are no longer experiencing growing pains.

They are experiencing a full-blown political collapse.

Áʼa:líya Warbus has become the seventh MLA to leave the Conservative caucus since Kerry-Lynne Findlay narrowly won the party leadership three months ago. She joins Bruce Banman, Teresa Wat, Brennan Day, Peter Milobar, Ian Paton and Rosalyn Bird.

Seven MLAs in three months.

That is not renewal. It is not ideological housekeeping. It is not a leader courageously enforcing discipline.

It is a failure of leadership.

Findlay defeated Caroline Elliott by the narrowest of margins—51 per cent to 49 per cent—on the final ballot. The contest presented members with two distinctly different paths.

Findlay offered confrontation, ideological purity and a campaign built around determining who was—or was not—a “real conservative.”

Elliott offered something less theatrical but far more valuable: the ability to build a coalition capable of defeating David Eby.

The party chose confrontation.

It is now paying the price.

Nobody can know with certainty what would have happened under Caroline Elliott. Leadership always looks easier from the sidelines. She would have inherited the same competing personalities, regional tensions and ideological divisions.

But it is difficult to imagine Elliott losing seven MLAs in her first three months.

Elliott understood something the current leadership appears to have forgotten: winning a Conservative leadership contest and winning British Columbia are two entirely different challenges.

A leadership candidate can win by appealing to the most motivated members. A premier must build support among suburban families, small-business owners, resource workers, new Canadians, rural voters and politically homeless former BC Liberal supporters.

That requires conservative principles, certainly.

It also requires judgment, discipline and emotional intelligence.

Elliott’s experience inside the old BC Liberal and BC United coalition was portrayed as a liability during the leadership campaign. In hindsight, it may have been precisely what the Conservatives needed.

She understood how fragile British Columbia’s centre-right coalition really is. It includes social conservatives and fiscal conservatives, populists and pragmatists, rural resource communities and culturally diverse suburban ridings.

You do not hold that coalition together by constantly questioning whether half of it belongs.

You hold it together by giving people a reason to stay.

Findlay’s defenders will say the departing MLAs are disloyal. Some will argue that the caucus is being purified of members who were never genuine conservatives.

That might satisfy the party’s loudest online voices. It will not defeat the NDP.

When seven elected representatives independently conclude they cannot continue under the same leader, blaming all seven becomes increasingly difficult.

Warbus said British Columbia needs steady leadership and someone capable of bringing people together. Teresa Wat said the party had become exclusive rather than inclusive. Peter Milobar said his values no longer aligned with its direction. Bruce Banman said constituents increasingly viewed the party as unelectable under Findlay.

These are not anonymous critics or Liberal operatives. They are people elected under the Conservative banner.

The operational record is equally troubling.

MLAs reportedly complained they were unclear about the leader’s strategy. Senior party officials were replaced. Staff came and went. Caucus operations director Apollo Chung was fired. Meanwhile, controversial language directives, provocative social-media content and internal accusations repeatedly displaced the issues British Columbians actually care about.

Affordability. Crime. Healthcare. Housing. Jobs. Resource development. Government spending.

David Eby should be facing the fight of his political life.

Instead, the BC Conservatives are fighting one another.

So who is behind this mess?

Findlay is the leader. She hired the team, approved the direction and owns the results. Political leaders do not get to take credit for victories while outsourcing responsibility for disasters.

Her chief of staff, Chris Delaney, and the senior people directing caucus operations, communications and political strategy also deserve scrutiny. The personnel choices and combative messaging suggest the current crisis is not a series of unrelated accidents. It reflects a deliberate political culture.

Then there is the question many Conservatives are asking privately: what influence, if any, has Jenni Byrne had?

Byrne is one of the most powerful Conservative strategists in Canada and was a senior adviser to Pierre Poilievre. Findlay served as Poilievre’s chief opposition whip and comes from that federal Conservative political network.

The resemblance in political style is hard to miss: tightly controlled communications, suspicion of traditional media, sharp wedge issues, an emphasis on identifying enemies and a belief that confrontation can substitute for coalition building.

But resemblance is not proof.

I have found no reliable public evidence establishing that Jenni Byrne formally advised Findlay’s provincial leadership campaign or is directing the BC Conservative Party today. Unless Findlay, Byrne or someone with direct knowledge confirms such a role, it would be irresponsible to state it as fact.

That does not make the question illegitimate.

If an outside strategist helped shape Findlay’s campaign, staffing decisions or governing strategy, Conservative members deserve to know. Findlay could end the speculation immediately by disclosing who advised her campaign and who is currently shaping the party’s direction.

Transparency would be preferable to rumor’s.

However, even if Byrne never participated in a single meeting, the ultimate responsibility remains with Findlay. Leaders choose whose advice to follow. They decide whether to broaden the party or narrow it. They decide whether criticism should be heard or punished.

Caroline Elliott’s leadership would not have guaranteed victory in the next election.

But she likely would have started by stabilizing the caucus, incorporating former rivals, reassuring members from different conservative traditions and turning the party’s attention toward David Eby.

Most importantly, Elliott seemed to understand that a party does not become stronger every time someone leaves it.

The BC Conservatives came within a few seats of forming government in 2024. They had an opportunity to professionalize, broaden their appeal and present themselves as a credible government-in-waiting.

Instead, they chose a leader who defined herself by deciding who did not belong.

Three months later, seven MLAs have answered that question for themselves.

The BC Conservatives do not need another purge, another inflammatory video or another loyalty test.

They need humility, competent management and an honest reckoning over how a party standing on the doorstep of government managed to begin dismantling itself.

Caroline Elliott might have provided that kind of leadership.

The members chose another path.

Now the entire centre-right movement may pay for it.