The B.C. NDP has further secured its majority after the surprise addition of Penticton-Summerland MLA Amelia Boultbee, a former Conservative who until now sat as an Independent.
Boultbee says that since leaving the Conservative Party, she has collaborated more and more with the NDP caucus, while watching her former party be “consumed with divisive Donald Trump-style populism.”
“What was promised to me and many others as a big tent party gets smaller by the day,” she said.
Boultbee said she made this decision after reflecting on the best way to represent her constituents who face “generational challenges” with affordability, housing and healthcare.
“These challenges impact people in Penticton-Summerland and every community in our province,” she said during a Friday press conference at the B.C. legislature. “Solving them calls for leadership that’s thoughtful, principled, and determined. And when I think about who is best positioned to do this work, my confidence is with this premier and this caucus.”
Premier David Eby, who appeared alongside Boultbee to announce that she is joining the NDP, said she was not offered a specific portfolio to entice her to cross the floor.
“No positions were offered to Amelia. No promises were made on any specific initiatives or any other asks,” Eby said. “Amelia reached out. She said she wanted to join the team, and we’re glad to have her.”
The floor-crossing comes less than two months after the B.C. Conservative Party stripped Boultbee of her party membership following her vote on an NDP bill that alters the Freedom of Information request system.
The announcement also comes on the same day the B.C. Conservative Caucus is wrapping up its first official meeting under new party Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay in Boultbee’s riding.
At a news conference wrapping up that meeting, Findlay called the NDP a “sinking ship,” and said she has already had people reach out to her about running in Penticton.
“We will win this seat back as Conservatives, and we’re looking forward to it, and we will do that,” she said.
Eby said he thinks the Conservatives are alienating themselves with the extreme positions of their new leader, which is leading people to take “a second look” at the NDP.
In the 2024 election, Boultbee narrowly defeated BC NDP candidate Tina Lee by just 317 votes. The final tally was Boultbee 11,615 votes, or 41.37 per cent, to Lee’s 11,298 votes or 40.24 per cent.
With the move to join the NDP, Boultbee has put the party into a solid majority with 48 of the legislature’s 93 seats. This means the party will no longer need Speaker Raj Chouhan to provide a tiebreaking vote on confidence motions.
Boultbee was elected in 2024 as a B.C. Conservative, but exited the caucus in October of 2025 following the ousting of MLA Elenore Sturko. She said the “unravelling” of former party leader MLA John Rustad led her to conclude she could no longer remain with the caucus.
Rustad, in turn, accused Boultbee of leaking party information or being in line with party positions and suggested she was unable to handle the stress of her position. He claimed she had mental health issues, and even asserted that she supported Hamas.
– With files from Brennan Phillips
READ MORE: Penticton Summerland MLA to exit BC Conservative caucus over party leader