B.C. Conservative Amelia Boultbee quits caucus, says leader Rustad needs to go
Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 20 Oct, 2025 11:14 AM
British Columbia Conservative legislator Amelia Boultbee is quitting the party caucus and calling on leader John Rustad to resign, saying he told her to "get the F out."
She said during a news conference of the steps of the legislature on Monday that she would sit as an Independent and collaborate with former Conservative MLA Elenore Sturko, but would consider returning to the Opposition caucus if Rustad were ousted.
Boultbee, the fifth MLA to exit the caucus over differences with Rustad, said her exit was not connected to political positions, but related to a "membership scandal" over alleged wrongdoing in the leadership election process and a matter of integrity.
The results of a leadership review last month gave Rustad 70.6 per cent support among members who voted, but some party members have expressed concerns over the process.
"If John was serious about caring more about the Conservative movement than his own ego, he should have gracefully resigned when the membership scandal emerged," she said.
"That would have been appropriate. Instead, he has told us that he will cling to power by all means necessary."
Rustad responded by saying he has "concerns" about Boultbee's health, because he had seen her "in tears."
"I mean, she's had some issues in the past and I tried to do everything I could to support her in whatever those issues may be," he told reporters.
In May, Boultbee joined Sturko in condemning a reception by their party colleagues for the Association for Reformed Political Action, which says it wants a "biblical perspective" on policy that critics say is anti-gay.
The Conservatives were elected last year to Official Opposition status with 44 members in the legislature, but Boultbee's exit reduces their number to 39.
Sturko was kicked out last month after crossing the floor from the BC Liberals to join the party last year, in a key defection that helped put momentum behind the Conservatives.
MLA Dallas Brodie was ejected in May after comments she made about residential school survivors. Tara Armstrong and Jordan Kealy defected not long after and Brodie and Armstrong have since formed a new political party together.
Boultbee said Rustad had a "track record" when it came to women in the caucus, saying he had "kicked out, driven out, or fired" a series of them.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Wolfgang Depner
Health officials in British Columbia say at least 64 people have become sick after eating raw oysters from restaurants and retail locations.
A statement from the BC Centre for Disease Control and the provincial health authority says the "norovirus-like" gastrointestinal illnesses have been reported since Nov. 1 in the Vancouver Coastal Health, Fraser Health and Island Health regions.
The president of the Vancouver Police Union has criticized the handling of a sexual assault case that ended in the suicide of a Central Saanich Police officer.
Ralph Kaisers says in a letter to members that was obtained by The Canadian Press that the "tragic loss" of the officer came after public statements that risked "undermining the presumption of innocence."
Police in Delta say a woman has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly trying to drive a car carrying two young children into the Fraser River last month. Delta police say officers had responded to an incident on Nov. 29 on River Road where they found a car stuck on the foreshore of the river.
Winds approaching 140 km/h have been hitting Vancouver Island weather stations after Environment Canada issued the latest in a series of wind warnings for the B.C. coast. It says the warnings cover exposed coastal sections of the island's north and B.C.'s central coast, with a Pacific frontal system approaching.
Several British Columbia media reports say one of two Central Saanich Police officers charged with sexual assaulting a woman they met on duty has died by suicide. The Times Colonist cites four sources saying 43-year-old Sgt. Matthew Ball has died, while other outlets cite police sources saying Ball died by suicide.
The law, named after David Milgaard and his mother, Joyce, will move the review process of cases away from the ministers, and will be replaced with an independent commission the government says will make it easier, faster and more fair for the potentially wrongfully convicted.
