Three other MLAs of the seven-person CCF caucus, Jack Price, R. B. Swailes, and Ernest Bakewell, left the party and joined Connell to form the Social Constructives.
The four member caucus, having one more MLA than the CCF, was large enough to allow Connell to remain Leader of the Opposition in the British Columbia Legislative Assembly.
Other defectors included Victor Midgely, former leader of the One Big Union, and Bill Pritchard, editor and owner of the BC CCF's newspaper, The Commonwealth.
[3] Connell was expelled for publicly rejecting the party platform adopted by the BC CCF at its 1936 convention as too radical for calling for the socialization of banking and credit.
The new party lacked the organizational strength of either the CCF or the Liberals and was unable to field candidates in even one-third of the province's electoral districts.