Independent MLA Amelia Boultbee, who was previously a member of the BC Conservative Party, has crossed the floor to join the New Democrats under David Eby.
Boultbee left the Conservatives a year after being elected, saying she was concerned about the party’s direction, and has been sitting as an Independent since that time for the Penticton-Summerland riding.
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Last month, she said the election of new leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay on May 30 will polarize the province, adding it shows that part of the Conservative base wants to take the party “further and further to the right,” and “engage in Donald Trump-style populism.”
Boultbee says moving to the NDP is the best way for her to represent her constituents.
“I’m a fourth-generation Pentictonite, and I got into politics to serve my community,” she said.
“When I think about who’s best positioned to make a difference for people in Penticton, Summerland, and the whole province, my confidence is with David Eby and the BC NDP.”
UBC political science lecturer Stewart Price says this move isn’t surprising.
“Amelia Boltbee is somebody who clearly was at home in the former BC Liberal Party, BC United Party, that kind of an environment, the kind of MLA who would seem to be most at home in a centre-right political party,” Prest said.
“And it’s clear that the new direction of the BC Conservatives has not been something that she has been comfortable with, even as sitting as an Independent and watching things unfold there.”
However, he says, it is shocking to see someone move all the way across the political aisle from the Conservatives to the NDP.
— With files from The Canadian Press