(LifeSiteNews) — After an intense campaign, the British Columbia Conservative Party voted in its new leader, former federal Conservative MP and federal cabinet minister Kerry-Lynne Findlay, who had vowed to ban “gender ideology” in schools.
Findlay won on the fourth ballot in the leadership race held May 30 with 51 percent of the vote. Political commentator Caroline Elliott came in a close second at 49 percent.
In Findlay’s victory speech, she directly said that God, faith, family, and freedom are her top priorities.
“In our national anthem, we cry out to God to make our land glorious and free – free people making free choices and free speech in a free-enterprise market economy, where hard work is rewarded and we are not crushed by socialist overreach that wants to dictate literally what we think, what we believe, what we can say, and who we associate with,” she said.
She said she will stand for “free people making free choices and free speech in a free enterprise market economy. Where hard work is rewarded, and we are not crushed by socialist overreach that wants to dictate literally what we think, what we believe, what we can say, and who we associate with.”
Findlay is a close colleague of former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. She served under him in his cabinet for a time in the 2010s and last served as a federal MP in 2025.
Her husband is B.C. Conservative MLA Brent Chapman.
During the campaign, Findlay promised she would stop so-called sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) programs in schools in her province and oppose “gender ideology.” These policies were put in place in 2016 by the former Liberal provincial government.
She was asked about this promise to stop SOGI, saying, “No one should be afraid. I want to protect children. I want to help children.”
She, as well as other leadership candidates, had promised to call for a full repeal of B.C.’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA). This policy is linked to the UN’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and calls for more indigenous land, consent, and governance rights.
She was also a vocal opponent of the drug epidemic plaguing her province as a result of federal and provincial lax drug policies.
The current provincial government in British Columbia is the pro-abortion, SOGI, and euthanasia New Democratic Party under Premier David Eby.
The B.C. Conservatives have been polling well of late, notably after former leader John Rustad resigned. The next provincial election must be held by October 2028.