BC Conservatives Hire an Alberta Separatist and Far-Right Media Figure

Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay commits to a MAGA approach to winning power.

The Conservative Party of BC has hired Apollo Chung, a member of the separatist Republican Party of Alberta, as director of operations and Cosmin Dzsurdzsa, a former writer for Juno News, as caucus communications director. The BC NDP released the information based on an internal government directory, sending out a press release that criticized the hires as bringing “Trump-style politics” to B.C. In response to a request for an interview, Dzsurdzsa called The Tyee a “far-left smear outlet” and “literal trash, not journalism.”

Stewart Prest, a lecturer in political science at the University of British Columbia, said the decision to hire Chung and Dzsurdzsa is one more signal the party is abandoning traditional Conservative politics in B.C. and choosing an approach close to the MAGA republicanism of the United States. The hires come after Kerry-Lynne Findlay, a former Conservative MP who has championed socially conservative positions, won the B.C. Conservative leadership race on May 30. “This is not a coincidence or a one-off,” Prest said.

“This is very much a deliberate strategy at this point — that’s clear.” Critics inside Conservative politics have been pointing out Chung’s connection to Findlay’s campaign for months. On April 28, Anthony Koch — a Conservative strategist who was part of the Conservative Party of BC team during the 2024 provincial election — posted questions about Chung’s role inside the Findlay campaign.

“Want to know who KLF’s de facto campaign manager is right now? Meet Apollo (a.k.a. Paul) Chung,” Koch posted. “Someone should ask Ms. Findlay if using ‘B.C. talent’ includes hiring an Alberta Separatist.”

Koch made the comments as one of Findlay’s opponents, Caroline Elliott, was criticized for hiring Ontario-based political strategist Kory Teneycke. After the leadership vote results were announced, a video posted to Facebook showed Findlay’s raucous after-party at a hotel, with guests appearing to chant Chung’s name. Prest said the party’s decision to hire Chung shows a divide between the B.C. and federal Conservatives.

Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has defended a united Canada as the Alberta separatism movement agitated to hold a referendum. The Republican Party of Alberta has developed a “five-step plan to achieve Alberta’s separation,” and its leader, Cameron Davies, has travelled to the United States to drum up support for an independent Alberta from Donald Trump-aligned politicians and officials. While other figures inside the Alberta separatist movement have accused Davies of supporting Alberta’s absorption into the United States as the “51st state,” Davies has denied this.

“I think it is not an easy one to explain away, because for those who are truly committed to the idea of a strong and united Canada with Alberta as an important component within the federation, it really shouldn't be possible to find common cause to work with someone who takes the other side of that debate,” Prest said. “It's a pretty cut-and-dried question. Do you think Alberta should be part of Canada or not?”

Chung was listed as the party’s executive director on its website and was the financial officer for some candidates. And as recently as 2021 he was a constituency assistant for current NDP Finance Minister Brenda Bailey. Dzsurdzsa has held several jobs for right-wing media outlets.

In 2019 he was working at the Post Millennial when Canada’s National Observer reported he’d previously worked for Free Bird Media, a blog that platformed white supremacists Richard Spencer and Faith Goldy. The National Observer also reported that Dzsurdzsa had written for Russia Insider, a site that had been described as “propaganda” for the Russian government by the BBC and Newsweek. Following publication of the National Observer story, the Post Millennial said it had cut ties with Dzsurdzsa.

Prior to being hired by the Conservative Party of BC, Dzsurdzsa was working for Juno News, which was previously known as True North News. Dzsurdzsa recently defended Juno News’ decision to conduct a video interview with Daniel Tyrie, the leader of an organization called the Dominion Society of Canada that calls for deportation of 21 per cent of the country’s population. Tyrie uses the term “remigration,” but extremism experts say it’s more accurate to call the idea “ethnic cleansing” because groups who use the term “remigration” usually focus on deporting non-white people.

In his interview with Juno News, Tyrie said he’s “very clear about what a Canadian is.” “All these groups that established Canada, this ethnic continuity that we’re talking about, these people can be called white people,” Tyrie said. In a post on X, Dzsurdzsa said having a debate about “remigration” shows “genuine vitality on the Canadian right right now: remigrationists and restrictionists, Alberta sovereigntists and Canadian nationalists.

We’re stronger for it.” The post was in response to former Alberta premier Jason Kenney, who called Tyrie “racist” and criticized Juno News for interviewing him. Dzsurdzsa is married to Lindsay Shepherd, a former Conservative Party of BC staffer who was fired after she complained on social media about having to view flags, posters and T-shirts that commemorate residential school survivors.

Dzsurdzsa was not shy about cheering Findlay’s win and gleefully promoted her on X using AI-generated images. He also mused that legacy media appeared to have no influence over the leadership vote result and urged Conservative politicians to “take advantage” of independent outlets rather than speaking with reporters from mainstream media. Prest noted that it’s outside of journalistic norms for a reporter to promote a specific candidate and then quickly take a job with the party.

Prest said Canada’s political history has shown that when Conservative parties are successful forming government, they focus on the economy and government spending. “When they embrace these much more radical political projects, then they turn an election from a choice between a fiscally responsible opposition and a government everyone’s tired with, to a polarizing political project versus a government everyone’s tired with,” Prest said. “And much more often than not, people will give that government a good hard look when the alternative is radical and is pursuing a lot of projects that really aren't what most people are interested in.”

But if the current form of the Conservative Party of BC is successful in winning the next election, Prest said, the party has given every indication that it will move to implement sweeping changes. “It will be, I think, a government that moves in the direction of some of the things that we do see in the United States — not just with Donald Trump, but in that Republican world more broadly.”