Following Vancouver-Quilchena MLA Dallas Brodie's removal from the Conservative Party of B.C. Friday (March 7), two of her fellow MLAs have left the Conservatives 鈥� with possible plans to start a new political party.
Shortly after B.C. Conservative Leader ousted Brodie from the caucus, Peace River North MLA Jordan Kealy and 麻豆精选-Lake Country-Coldstream MLA Tara Armstrong announced they would both be leaving the party. Both threw blame at Rustad.
Kealy posted to Facebook first saying it was on Thursday he witnessed firsthand how toxic the Conservative Party of B.C. had become.
"Some of the worst bullies sit in the legislature, and the BC Conservatives are no exception. I stood up for a fellow MLA who was harassed for speaking the truth, only to become a target myself," Kealy said in his social media post.
"The party has created an environment where some so-called 鈥淐onservatives鈥� would rather throw cheap insults than deal with facts. There were no apologies, no accountability, and I refuse to stand with those who either enable or ignore that kind of behavior."
It was on Thursday that Brodie reportedly challenged the caucus to "fire her" and asked Conservative MLAs to have a vote on removing her, according to a statement from Rustad. Brodie then reportedly walked out of the caucus room.
Brodie had come under fire from the public, the NDP and fellow Conservative MLAs for her posted to X on Feb. 22 as the party's then-attorney general critic claiming "apparent mistreatment" of a lawyer who is suing his own law society for libel after having asked the society to reword training materials around residential schools. In her posts, she said "the confirmed number of child burials at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School site is zero ... No one should be afraid of the truth. Not lawyers, their governing bodies, or anyone else."
Brodie refused to take down the post and posted her letter to Attorney General Niki Sharma on March 4.
On a recent podcast appearance, Rustad said Brodie used "a mocking, child-like voice to belittle testimony from former residential school students, saying things like 'my grandmother鈥檚 truth' and 'my truth, your truth' in a child-like 鈥榳hining鈥� voice." He referenced that podcast in his decision to remove her from the caucus.
More to come.
