Penticton-Summerland MLA leaves BC Conservatives to end action-packed rookie year
Penticton-Summerland MLA Amelia Boultbee announced that she’s leaving the BC Conservative Party to sit as an independent.
Her announcement on the steps of the BC Legislature this morning, Oct. 20, comes roughly a year after she was elected. Boultbee said she had to leave because of party leader John Rustad’s questionable conduct.
She says her decision comes after Rustad told her that if she didn’t like his leadership, she should “get the F out.”
She’s the fifth MLA to exit the party over differences with Rustad.
Boultbee says her exit isn’t connected to political positions, but is related to a “membership scandal” in the leadership election process and is a matter of integrity.
She says Rustad has a “track record” when it comes to women in the caucus, saying he has “kicked out, driven out, or fired” a series of them.
When MLAs Dallas Brodie, Tara Armstrong and Jordan Kealy left the BC Conservatives, Boultbee had some harsh words for them, but she said her decision was different.
“No one can deny that it’s upsetting and that constituents are entitled to be upset about it. I acknowledge that they voted for a party banner. But ultimately, there was no way that I could maintain my own integrity and work with that man,” she told iNFOnews.ca.
Boultbee said she has no intention of joining OneBC, but hasn’t ruled out starting her own party with another ousted BC Conservative MLA Elenore Sturko, who is also sitting as an independent.
“It’s really hard to say right now. Everything is really fluid. There’s a lot of moving parts. It’s the immediate task at hand, and we haven’t really discussed that far into the future,” she said.
Earlier this month, Boultbee posted a video of an awkward and tense exchange with OneBC leader Dallas Brodie.
Prior to her decision to leave the BC Conservative Party it had alrady been an eventful year for the Penticton city councillor turned MLA.
Boultbee had a war of words with her former city council when she criticized how the City of Penticton handled a homeless encampment. The encampment at Fairview Road and Highway 97 is a hot button issue and Boultbee had harsh criticism for the city and the mayor responded publicly.
She was tossed out of a budget debate for the Ministry of Children and Family Development on May 13. Boultbee asked several questions about kids who died while in the government’s care. She refused to withdraw a comment about “institutional gaslighting” and she was ejected from the meeting.
Boultbee was already making a splash before she got into office when she retained a lawyer to go after BC United turned independent candidate Tracy St. Claire. Boultbee took issue with the fact that St. Claire’s independent candidate signs were repurposed and still had the BC United colours.
Boultbee has also been in the news for problems that aren’t directly related to her role as MLA.
Earlier this month, Boultbee had rocks thrown at her home and vehicle on Oct. 2. RCMP confirmed the incident happened and haven’t made any arrests.
In August, her rental property, a townhouse in Penticton, burned down in a fire. No one was injured and firefighters handled the situation.
In May, Boultbee went public and called out a prominent businessman Darrell Richards for sexually assaulting her. Richards was charged and the case ended with a stay of proceedings. He had to apologize and make a $1,000 donation to SOWINS. Boulbee criticized Discovery House for taking donations from Richards.
“Darrell assaulted me and pled guilty,” Boultbee wrote on social media.
—With files from The Canadian Press.
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