Boultbee makes fifth MLA to exit B.C. Conservative Party

In another hit to John Rustad’s leadership, the MLA for Penticton-Summerland left the BC Conservatives’ caucus Monday.

Amelia Boultbee announced to media outside the B.C. Legislature that she was resigning to sit as an independent, citing disillusionment with Rustad.

Boultbee follows MLA Elenore Sturko who was ousted from the party at the end of September over claims she was trying to organize against Rustad while awaiting the results of a leadership review.

The review was marred by a fake membership scandal, and since then, Rustad faced dissent over searching party members’ cellphones for evidence of a leak.

Boultbee says her decision comes after Rustad told her that if she didn’t like his leadership, she should “get the F out.”

She is 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 the membership scandal 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.

Boultbee called on Rustad to resign. She says she will collaborate with Sturko, but would consider returning to the party if Rustad is ousted.

University of the Fraser Valley Political Scientist Hamish Telford says Boultbee’s departure was “foreshadowed” by expressions of solidarity with Sturko.

“Rustad is obviously having difficulty holding the party together. I think his strategy was to play the ends against the middle. He expelled the far right and expelled Elenore Sturko — perhaps on the left side of the party. But rather than holding the centre together, people now seemed to be picking sides,” Telford told 1130 NewsRadio.

He says Rustad’s campaign to unite the political right under a big tent has been hard to uphold.

“On the other hand, I’m not sure that another leader would do much better,” Telford added.

“It’s a very big task. It’s a huge challenge and I’m just not sure the different factions in the conservative movement want to play together anymore.”

He says the divide will make things easier for the BC NDP government in the Legislature.

University of British Columbia Political Scientist Stewart Prest says this latest blow spells disaster for Rustad.

“It does feel like Mr. Rustad’s days are numbered — as the NDP continues to limp along in polling and looking vulnerable on a number of fronts. I think if Mr. Rustad’s leadership were secure, people would be rallying behind him as he goes to push the NDP,” Prest told 1130 NewsRadio.

“And the fact that he is still turning inwardly to try to shore up his leadership, when there is such an inviting target outside the party, suggests that there is no path back.”

—With files from Raynaldo Suarez, Dean Recksiedler, and The Canadian Press