Penticton-Summerland MLA Amelia Boultbee said she’s leaving the B.C. Conservative caucus and called on party leader John Rustad to resign.
Boultbee told reporters outside the legislature Monday she will sit as an Independent.
Boultbee said Rustad has been “unraveling” and, while she continues to supports the B.C. Conservatives, but the party cannot be a “viable” alternative to the governing B.C. NDP with Rustad at the helm.
“I believe he has massive credibility problems and he is resorting to intimidation in order to prevent us from organizing against him,” said Boultbee. She said that has included cancelled caucus meetings and threats that he won’t sign their nomination papers.
“He has invited me to get the ‘F’ out if I don’t like it, and I have taken him up on that offer,” she said.
Boultbee also pointed to other recent controversies, including allegations of fake membership sign-ups that surfaced during Rustad’s leadership review.
Asked who she thinks would be a better choice to lead the party, Boultbee said there’s no clear successor right now.
“I believe that a good leader could come from the B.C. Conservative ranks, and that among the millions of people in this province, there has to be someone better than [Rustad],” she said.
Boultbee acknowledged her constituents who backed her as a B.C. Conservative candidate might be disappointed by her leaving the party.
“If you had told me a year ago that I would be standing here today resigning, I would never have believed you,” she said. She said she would return to the party ranks under a different leader.
Speaking shortly after Boultbee’s announcement, Rustad alleged she was behind several leaks of party information to the press. He also suggested Boultbee’s mental health had suffered due to her work load and said she was not aligned with party’s positions on issues such as parental rights and the war in Gaza.
Rustad denied Boultbee’s claim that he was “unravelling,” and said he remains focused on challenging the B.C. NDP government.
Boultbee joins the handful of other former B.C. Conservative MLAs who have either been ousted or resigned from the caucus this year.
She said she plans to work closely with Surrey-Cloverdale MLA Elenore Sturko, who was booted from the Conservatives in September and she is also now sitting as an Independent.
Boultbee said Sturko was fired because she wouldn’t stop asking questions about the reports of fraud during Rustad’s leadership review.
At this time, Boultbee said there are no plans to launch a new political party, as some former caucus members have done.
Dallas Brodie, MLA for Vancouver-Quilchena, was expelled from the party in March after comments she made on a podcast about residential school survivors. Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream MLA Tara Armstrong and Jordan Kealy left shortly afterward.
Brodie and Armstrong formed the new political party One B.C., while Kealy continues to sit as an Independent.
