BC Conservatives: Is This Division Really About Leadership, or Something Deeper?
When foundations crumble, repeating the same political cycle while expecting a different result begins to look like insanity.
By Christian McCay
Leader, Christian Heritage Party of British Columbia
August 29, 2026
Six MLAs have left the BC Conservative caucus this month, five within the past week. The party that elected 44 MLAs in 2024 is now down 13 from that original caucus through departures, expulsions, a floor crossing and a resignation.
The turmoil raises an important question: is this really another leadership problem, or is something deeper happening beneath the foundation?
Whatever one thinks about the individual disagreements, personalities or circumstances, the continuing fracture invites a deeper question: how difficult is it to build lasting political unity when people with substantially different convictions are gathered under one banner without an immovable common foundation?
A Pattern We Have Seen Before
I have come and gone from the Conservative Party of BC and, over years of involvement, have seen firsthand the dysfunction, division, discouragement and infighting that can exist from the grassroots through every level of the organization. I have also seen principled voices, including my own, and uncomfortable truths resisted or pushed aside when they became politically inconvenient.
I wish more people had the opportunity to learn what I have learned through repeated experience, because many others, both within and outside the party, are once again encountering those same realities themselves.
They have placed their hopes in political realignment, a new leader or a new voice promising hope, only to find themselves again disappointed, disillusioned and searching for something more firmly grounded.
We have seen this cycle before. Political movements divide, people leave, new alliances are formed, and another attempt is made to unite around a common political objective.
At what point do we ask whether repeatedly rebuilding political coalitions on the same unstable foundation, while expecting a different result, is simply repeating the same mistake?
The answer to a fractured political coalition is not simply another coalition. The deeper question is whether there is an immovable foundation upon which genuine political unity can be built.
Political pragmatism is real. Parties want to win elections, attract voters, hold coalitions together and form government. Leaders face pressure from within their parties and from polling, media, lobby groups, donors, activists, advisers and changing public opinion.
Eventually the question can shift from “What is true and right?” to “What can we say, what can we pass, and what will people vote for?”
There are sincere Christians and principled people serving within mainstream political parties, and we should support those willing to courageously stand for truth. But good Christians inside a political structure do not, by their presence alone, change the foundation upon which that structure operates. When biblical conviction collides with political necessity, the limitations of that secular structure become very real.
Why the Foundation Matters
The Christian Heritage Party exists on a fundamentally different premise.
Biblical truth is not intended to be one influence competing with many others. It is the foundation from which our principles are established and our policies must flow. Strategy, circumstances and policy applications may change, but the foundation cannot move simply because moving it might attract more votes.
Our hope, however, is not in the Christian Heritage Party of BC (CHP BC) or in politics.
Our hope is Jesus Christ.
Politics Is An Avenue, Not The Goal
Christ established His ekklesia, His gathered people, to be salt and light. The Body of Christ cannot simply label politics “secular” and use that as a reason to withdraw from responsibilities Scripture clearly gives us.
Politics is one avenue through which laws are written, governments are directed, the vulnerable are protected or neglected, and justice is upheld or denied. But politics is not the Christian goal.
Our calling is to pursue righteousness and justice, defend what is good, care for the vulnerable, uphold truth, restrain evil, and bring the hope and love of Christ into society. Political engagement is one important arena where that calling must be lived out.
When Christians take costly stands for biblical truth, will the Body of Christ stand behind them, or will churches and believers remain silent and disengaged because politics has become uncomfortable?
We cannot expect Christians to carry these convictions into government while leaving them unsupported when faithfulness carries a political cost. But neither should we assume individual Christians can make a political structure built on another foundation immovable.
Perhaps it is time to also strengthen and support political institutions where the biblical foundation is already established.
The Opportunity Before Us
That is the opportunity before the Christian Heritage Party of BC.
Our foundation is openly Christian, but our concern is for every British Columbian. You do not have to share our faith to value truth, justice, human dignity, protection of the vulnerable, responsible government, strong families and communities, or the freedom to live according to conscience. We invite people of goodwill, including those who may not share our Christian convictions, to consider whether principles grounded in an enduring moral foundation can offer something increasingly absent from our politics: stability, integrity and genuine hope for the common good.
CHP provides a political vehicle through which biblical principles can be represented without first being surrendered to political expediency. It can preserve a prophetic voice when truth is unpopular, keep that truth present in the public square, and be prepared when people begin looking beyond political pragmatism for something solid.
Truth does not become true when enough people vote for it.
Christ is our hope. Biblical truth is our foundation. The ekklesia must be willing to carry righteousness, justice, truth and the love of Christ into society.
And where that calling enters politics, we should be willing to build, support and stand behind a political voice that refuses to move its foundation simply to gain power.
