BREAKING: BC Conservative MLA leaves John Rustad’s caucus citing “failed leadership”
The BC Conservatives have lost their fifth MLA as Amelia Boultbee, critic for citizens’ services, defected to sit as an Independent, openly blaming the “failed leadership” of party leader John Rustad.
The BC Conservatives have lost their fifth MLA as Amelia Boultbee, critic for citizens’ services, defected to sit as an Independent on Monday, openly blaming the “failed leadership” of party leader John Rustad.
Almost a year to the day of being elected Penticton-Summerland MLA, Boultbee made her decision to leave the B.C. Conservatives public shortly after 9:30 a.m. on the steps of the legislature.
“I have witnessed the unraveling of John Rustad,” Boultbee said of her former party’s leader after announcing she would be stepping down as an independent.
Originally scheduled for 9 a.m., Boultbee moved the announcement to 9:30 a.m. to “avoid overlapping with a Legislature photo session,” according to reporter Jas Johal.
Rumours of Boultbee’s dissatisfaction with the party and her discord with Rustad have circulated widely since early fall.
Earlier this month, on Oct. 6, Boultbee posted a photo on her Facebook page and changed her profile photo on X to an image of her sitting alongside ousted MLA Elenore Sturko.
The otherwise minor act of changing a profile picture signalled something more significant. Just weeks earlier, on Sept. 22, Sturko was seen carrying her belongings out of the legislature — en route to an impromptu press conference — after saying she, too, had been expelled from the B.C. Conservative caucus by party leader John Rustad.
Once Rustad’s public safety critic, Sturko’s departure came shortly after Rustad was reaffirmed as party leader in a leadership contest that drew fewer than 900 votes.
According to B.C. politics reporter Rob Shaw, Rustad responded to Boultbee’s Monday morning announcement by claiming his former MLA had “mental health issues in the past” and saying he was “concerned about her current wellbeing.”
It’s been a tumultuous fall season for the newly independent MLA, starting with a police investigation into an alleged rock-throwing incident at her home.
“Last night at approximately 10 p.m. several vehicles and individuals approached my home and rocks were thrown at my home and vehicle,” Boultbee wrote on X on Oct. 3.
“Police were called and investigated. While the motive or perpetrators remains unknown to me, this is very distressing in light of recent events,” the post continued.
Rustad, then her party leader, responded in her support saying that there was “no place for violence or intimidation in politics.”