‘Not an easy decision,’ Teresa Wat says of defection to BC Conservatives

Teresa Wat, the BC Conservatives’ newest member, told the press on Tuesday that her defection from BC United was “not an easy decision,” but one that she had been contemplating for “many months.”

Wat said the decision came after the “countless” conversations she has had with her constituents in Richmond North Centre.

“It became clear, that the number one issue I hear all day, every day, is that the BC NDP must be defeated in the next election,” Wat said Tuesday.

The news of Wat’s defection came on Monday when a representative of BC United confirmed to 1130 NewsRadio that Wat had indicated her intention to leave.

“If Teresa Wat feels that her values better align with John Rustad’s Party, we wish her well,” said Adam Wilson, a communications director for the party, on Monday.

Wat’s decision comes after months of speculation about her tenure with BC United. In late May, Wat took to social media to decry a rumour that she might defect.

“This is pure speculation,” said Wat replying to a post saying she may cross the floor. “I remain a proud [BC United Caucus] MLA… and have been nominated again to run for [BC United] in the upcoming election.”

On Tuesday, Wat said she believes the BC Conservatives and a “free enterprise coalition is what British Columbia needs to undo the harmful policies of the BC NDP.”

“For 11 years, it’s been my honour and my privilege to represent the people of Richmond North Center as their MLA, I thank them for trusting me in the last 11 years for bringing their concerns and voices to the B.C. legislature,” she added.

Wat seemingly did not leave the party on the best terms, however. Wilson claimed on Monday that “a significant amount of confidential member information was exported by her team, prior to her decision to leave.”

Wat directly addressed these claims during her media availability on Tuesday.

“I find extremely disappointed that BC United would use this kind of lie or attack against me,” she said. “My team member was doing what BC United, the party, had asked us to do to be election-ready.”

“What my team member was doing — it was before my decision to move to BC Conservatives — was trying to copy the information of the voters in my riding so that it can be distributed to our door knockers,” she explained.

“To take down the information is all we were doing,” Wat said. “We were following the instructions. As John said, now that I am a member, I don’t need that information anymore. We will destroy all that information.”

“I am so disappointed, and it’s really regrettable that BC United would use this online attack against me.”

A BC United representative tells 1130 NewsRadio that the party is filing a complaint with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for B.C. (OICP), claiming the sensitive info that Wat exported is proprietary.

The OIPC says a it’s aware of the allegations.

“We have opened a file on this matter, and we will be therefore unable to speak more about it at this time. We remind all political parties in British Columbia of the importance of complying with the Personal Information Protection Act,” the OIPC said in a statement to 1130 NewsRadio.

BC Conservatives Leader John Rustad backed up Wat, explaining it is “normal” for MLAs to download data associated with their riding.

“As a matter of fact, parties encourage them to do that, to be able to reach out to the people in the writing to be able to make sure that they’re connecting with their constituents. That is normal,” he said.

“As the Conservative Party of British Columbia, now that Teresa has come over and joined the conservative party, I can say that our standards are such that we will be following Elections BC rules. And we will be following the privacy rules and we will not be using any data that is inappropriate for the party, to be able to connect with people.”