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A third candidate has entered the byelection in British Columbia’s Abbotsford-Mission riding where the leader of the provincial Conservatives is trying to win a seat.
The CentreBC party, which is not represented in the legislature, announced on Sunday that Lakhwinder Jhaj would be its candidate in the Sept. 26 vote which also includes Conservative Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay and former NDP agriculture minister Pam Alexis.
Jhaj said in an interview Sunday that voters she’s speaking with are concerned about the internal fighting within the B.C. Conservatives.
“Internal war within the party is not something that people elect MLAs for,” she said.
The race comes as the Conservatives have seen six MLAs leave Findlay’s caucus this month to sit as independents over questions regarding her leadership and the direction she’s taking the party.
Jhaj, whose family has a farm and runs both a car dealership and construction company, previously ran for the provincial NDP in 2009 and 2013 and was later a federal Liberal candidate in the 2021 election.
She said she left the NDP more than a decade ago and was a member of the BC Liberals. After that party collapsed ahead of the 2024 election, she said “CentreBC seems to be the home for me.”
“Everybody’s at a crossroads right now with everything that’s happening. I think it’s time for CentreBC to move forward and become the party in the future for people of British Columbia,” she said.
CentreBC was founded in 2025 and frames itself as “a moderate, pragmatic option for voters tired of the NDP’s disastrous policies and the B.C. Conservative dysfunction.”
Former B.C. Liberal cabinet minister Mike Bernier took over as CentreBC’s leader earlier this year.
Bernier said in an interview Sunday that he is not worried about his candidate splitting the vote in the byelection.
“We’re trying to make sure that we’re there to give a good option for people. Try to bring some stability back to politics in Victoria and have a good representative for the region,” he said.
“So the only people that are talking about the vote split are the B.C. Conservatives worried about losing votes and the NDP worried about losing votes. So I actually take that as a good thing because we’re attracting people from both sides.”
Earlier this month, Conservative MLA Reann Gasper resigned from her seat in Abbotsford-Mission to give Findlay a chance run. She has since taken a paid position as Findlay’s deputy chief of staff
A news conference that had been scheduled for Monday with Findlay and the caucus was cancelled on Sunday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 30, 2026
Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press
