Three B.C. Conservative rebels will sit as Independents as they ‘explore’ new party

On the front steps of the B.C. legislature on Monday, three rebel former members of the B.C. Conservatives laid out their case — Opposition leader John Rustad was beholden to “woke liberals,” the party had been infiltrated and it had turned its back on “the truth” about residential schools.

The trio — Dallas Brodie, Jordan Kealy and Tara Armstrong — said they would sit together as Independents, later clarifying in a joint statement that they would “explore the launch of a new political party.”

Inside, it was a different story.

NDP legislator Joan Phillip rose to give a statement decrying “misinformation being spread by members of this house” and thanking those who spoke out against it.

“Speaking out requires courage, and I lift my hands up to you for using your voices responsibly. Denying the history and pain of the survivors retraumatizes the very people we need to be standing up for,” she said.

Phillip’s speech was followed by lengthy applause and a standing ovation — including from many B.C. Conservatives, including Rustad, house leader A’aliya Warbus, Peter Milobar and Elenore Sturko. Warbus, who is Indigenous, raised both hands to Phillip in a traditional gesture of acknowledgment.

The duelling narratives surround a split in Rustad’s Conservatives, torn open last Friday when Rustad ejected Brodie from the Opposition caucus over comments about residential schools.

Peace River North MLA Kealy quit in sympathy, then Armstrong, who represents Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream.

Armstrong said Monday the situation showed how desperate Rustad was to remain in charge of the party.

“Jordan and I stood up for Dallas. John Rustad did not. He caved to the woke liberals that have now infiltrated his party, and now he’s really revealing just how desperate he is to cling on to that power.”

Kealy had said Friday that he would be setting up a new party this week, but Brodie said on Monday that for now they’ll sit as Independents. Brodie, who represents Vancouver-Quilchena, said there are “whispers” of other defections, but wouldn’t give names.

The upheaval came to a head on Friday but had been brewing since Feb. 22, when Brodie wrote on social media platform X that “zero” child burials were confirmed at the Kamloops Indian Residential School. Rustad asked Brodie, his attorney general critic, to delete the post, but she refused.

Rustad at first brushed it off as “family” issues, but then an interview with Brodie was posted on social media in which she criticized people who disagreed with her, at times adopting a high-pitched sing-song voice to mimic them.

It was important to have “the truth” about residential schools, she said, “not his truth, her truth, my grandmother’s truth.”

Rustad said Brodie’s decision to mock and belittle testimony of residential school survivors resulted in her caucus expulsion, not her “objectively true” remark that “no new bodies” had been found at Kamloops.

Monday’s joint statement from the rebels said Brodie “correctly stated” that there were “no confirmed burials” at the Kamloops site. “She was the first elected politician in Canada to make this statement publicly,” it said.

The Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc First Nation said in 2021 that ground-penetrating radar provided “confirmation of the remains of 215 children” at the school site but last year said the radar found “confirmation of 215 anomalies.”

Last October’s election saw the B.C. Conservatives emerge as the main right-leaning opposition party in the province after BC United suspended its campaign. Some BC United candidates were absorbed into the B.C. Conservatives, and there have been tensions ever since.

Brodie said Monday the party was shifting left even before election day, with “really good candidates were being replaced,” and she realized the B.C. Conservative Party might not be the right place for her.

There was, she said, a “honeymoon period … and then the meetings, the caucus meetings, started to become, not great.”

Some other B.C. Conservative legislators have publicly pledged support for Rustad.

Former Surrey mayor Linda Hepner, who represents Surrey-Serpentine River, said Sunday that the party “is stronger now” since the departure of the three rebels.

“Extreme right wing views are harmful not helpful,” Hepner said on X. “The big tent is made more easily bigger now.”

Langley-Willowbrook Conservative MLA Jody Toor said on X that Rustad had her “unwavering support,” while Penticton-Summerland MLA Amelia Boultbee called Brodie’s statements “abhorrent.”

Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Ward Stamer said in a Facebook post that he was “110% behind” Rustad.

“Past abuses of our First Nations people are not something to be mocked, nor belittled; it doesn’t do anything to support reconciliation,” he said.

At an unrelated news conference on Monday, Premier David Eby said Rustad did the right thing getting rid of Brodie, although it took him too long to do it.

“It’s necessary to stand up for residential school survivors. It’s necessary to stand up for our partnership with Indigenous people in this province. That’s the way forward for this province to grow our economy and ensure everybody’s boat rises,” he said.

If Brodie, Armstrong and Kealy do form a party, it would become the third biggest in the legislature, ahead of the Greens with two members. The leader of a new party and house leader would be entitled to pay increases, the party would get operational funding, and there would be more opportunities to ask questions in the legislature.

Pete Davis, the B.C. Conservative MLA for Kootenay Rockies, seemed to allude to the turmoil in the legislature’s morning prayer on Monday.

He asked for guidance to help legislators “set aside pride, selfish ambitions and division.”

“I come against any assignment to divide and distract us from the work we are doing here,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 10, 2025.

Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press