Former B.C. Conservative MLA Amelia Boultbee is firing back at party Leader John Rustad, saying his comments about her mental health upon her exit amount to “low blows.”
“I did think that he was probably going to say something to try to discredit me, because John has a track record of doing that with women,” Boultbee said.
This drama continues to unfold as Rustad faces calls to resign from his own party leadership committee, which sent him a letter on Wednesday (Oct. 22) urging him to quit amid an “unprecedented level of turmoil” within the party.
Boultbee is the fourth woman to leave the caucus this year, either voluntarily or at Rustad’s direction. A fifth MLA, Jordan Kealy, has also left the caucus.
“With regards to Amelia’s health, I had some concerns,” Rustad told reporters on Monday after Boultbee announced she was quitting. “When she’s in tears, staff are telling me that she’s very confused — I mean, I had some concerns.”
Rustad also made claims — without providing evidence to substantiate them in any way — about Boultbee’s stance on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) policies in schools, and her alleged stance on anti-Semitism and Hamas.
“She was very uncomfortable with our position on parental rights and the changes that are needed with SOGI,” he said. “She also apparently was very uncomfortable with our position on anti-Semitism, and made posts supporting Hamas and their goals.”
Rustad almost immediately came under fire for these comments, including from one of his own MLAs, Brennan Day, who took to social media to say it is harmful to “weaponize or trivialize” someone’s mental health.
“We need to build a culture where people can seek help without fear of judgment or political spin,” Day wrote. “Leadership means showing compassion and restraint, even when the spotlight is on.”
Attorney General Niki Sharma told reporters she thought it was “disappointing” this is the type of leadership he is providing.
“I don’t think you should be calling out somebody’s mental health, and I think that he should apologize,” Sharma told reporters.
On Tuesday, Rustad backpedalled, arguing he was not referring to her mental health when he made these comments.
“What I did say was that we were providing support, and we had some concerns, and we were trying to work through issues with her,” he said, adding that he does not think he owes her an apology.
Boultbee said it appears the Conservative leader believes he is “above reproach,” and said she has spoken with others in the caucus who are “shocked” by some of these comments.
“To say that I’m anti-Semitic, that I am a terrorist sympathizer, I’m mentally ill,” Boultbee said. “It was incredibly low blows from John.”
If Rustad does step down, Boultbee said she hopes there is a path back for her to rejoin the caucus. She said it is unlikely that she would run as an Independent in the future, given the odds of victory without the backing of a party.
“I would love to be back with my cohort doing what we said we would do,” she said. “If that doesn’t happen, I would have to evaluate opportunities as they arose, but I would certainly prefer to have a legitimate party banner to run under, rather than be Independent.”
Rustad recently survived a party leadership review process, which involved rank-and-file members voting on whether they support him as leader. He survived with slightly more than 70 per cent of the vote.
For now, he continues to say he does not plan to resign, and other Conservative MLAs are not commenting on the situation.
“My understanding from the (Conservative Party) constitution is there’s only one way for a leader to be removed, which is to resign or through leadership review,” Rustad told reporters on Wednesday afternoon.