Surrey Conservative MLA Linda Hepner Urges Calm and Grants Leader Runway to Contain Caucus Revolt

SURREY, B.C. — Former Surrey mayor and current Conservative MLA for Surrey-Serpentine River Linda Hepner announced she will provide party leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay with institutional "runway" to quell escalating caucus turmoil, resisting calls from defecting legislators to abandon the official opposition bench amid an unprecedented wave of internal resignations.

The Conservative Party of British Columbia has been plunged into deep factional infighting following the sudden departure of several high-profile legislators, including prominent Surrey-area MLA Elenore Sturko, who recently resigned from the party caucus to sit as an independent. Sturko and other departing members publicly criticized party management, pointing to abrupt dismissals of experienced moderate legislative staff, an aggressive ideological shift toward hardline social conservatism, and troubling backroom affiliations with Alberta separatist organizers as destabilizing influences that rendered caucus unity untenable.

Speaking publicly regarding the internal crisis, Hepner—who brought decades of administrative experience to the legislature after serving as Surrey’s chief executive—emphasized that reacting impulsively during a political storm risks inflicting permanent damage on the conservative coalition. While acknowledging the severity of caucus discontent, Hepner insisted that crisis management requires deliberate composure rather than immediate defections.

I do not believe that making drastic political decisions in the midst of chaos is the right course of action, and I am not going to do it, Hepner stated during a media briefing. Our party and our leader need runway to address these governance concerns, evaluate what went wrong, and implement necessary organizational corrections. I am doing my own due diligence, but jumping ship right now helps nobody who voted for conservative fiscal governance in British Columbia.

The escalating rift has divided the party’s Metro Vancouver delegation, particularly across Surrey’s battleground ridings where the party achieved major electoral breakthroughs. While Sturko has urged colleagues to confront systemic governance failures within party leadership, other regional legislators, including Surrey-Panorama MLA Bryan Tepper, have aligned with Hepner in urging calm and caucus discipline. Tepper echoed calls for institutional solidarity, arguing that public division undermines the opposition’s capacity to hold Premier David Eby’s New Democratic Party government accountable on health care wait times, transit infrastructure, and public safety.

The caucus crisis comes at an exceptionally vulnerable moment for party leadership as Findlay seeks to secure a seat in the Legislative Assembly through the high-stakes Abbotsford-Mission byelection scheduled for September 26. Political strategists note that internal discord and public broadsides from former caucus colleagues threaten to suppress voter turnout in a critical Fraser Valley heartland constituency, where fiscal conservatives and socially moderate swing voters hold the balance of power.

Despite Hepner’s public appeal for restraint, political analysts in Victoria observe that the legislative coalition remains precarious. Moderate caucus members from suburban constituencies have privately voiced dismay over the party executive’s messaging on climate policy and public education, warning that failing to retain the political center will cement NDP dominance across Metro Vancouver.

Hepner reiterated that her patience is contingent on concrete operational improvements from the leadership team following the byelection. By publicly offering Findlay temporary operational runway while acknowledging the legitimate grievances raised by departed members like Sturko, Hepner has positioned herself as a vital mediator between warring factions seeking to prevent a total collapse of British Columbia’s official opposition.