This morning, three former B.C. Conservative members held a press conference outside the BC Legislature, accusing leader John Rustad of abandoning “the truth” about residential schools.
Dallas Brodie, Jordan Kealy, and Tara Armstrong announced they would sit together as Independents. However, in a joint statement, they later clarified their intention to “explore the launch of a new political party.”
“I don’t want to be in this situation. I wanted to be in a party that formed really well and was able to beat the NDP, but right now I’d be amazed if that party survives another year,” Kealy told reporters.
It’s only been three and a half weeks since the legislature resumed, and Kealy, now representing the riding of Peace River North without party backing, has several of his nearly 40,000 constituents questioning the repercussions of his decision on the region.
“I ran my election on who I am, and I was running for a party that I thought had conservative morals and values, and it turned out to be completely opposite,” said Kealy.
Speaking with CJDC-TV, long-time MLA Dan Davies, who lost to Kealy running as an Independent after a ‘blue wave’ swept through the province during 2024’s election, commented, “Him jumping ship so early, I think really puts us at a disadvantage.”
Davies pointed to Kealy’s lack of working relationships within government, stakeholders, and community groups—relationships Davies built over a decade on city council and eight years as an MLA—as a drawback in driving change.
“I don’t believe Jordan has that. In fact, I know Jordan doesn’t have that. He just has not been there long enough,” said Davies. “We’re not going to be represented, I don’t think, the way that Peace River North deserves to be represented, and that is my biggest worry.”
Davies encourages Kealy to reach outside his base to meet the diverse needs of the riding.
“I think if he were to really go out there and have broad conversations outside his close circle, he would be hearing a very different story,” he said, acknowledging Kealy won the election fair and square.
Davies says the real winners from the move are going to be the NDP.
“You’re not going to be the one guy that gets your way overtop of everyone else in the province. That’s just not how it works,” said Davies. “Politics is a team sport when you’re part of a party. You know, everyone has a role. You may not always get what you want every time, and that’s just the reality.”
The upheaval comes after Rustad ousted Brodie, the MLA for Vancouver-Quilchena, from the party after she wrote on social media platform X on Feb. 22 that “zero” child burials had been confirmed at the Kamloops Indian Residential School. Rustad asked Brodie, his attorney general critic, to delete the post, but she refused.
Rustad initially brushed the disagreement off as “family” issues within the caucus, but then an interview with Brodie was posted on social media in which she mocked the testimony of residential school survivors.
“It was always going to be a difficult job for the leader to knit together what essentially is a new party, and I think that’s what John Rustad is facing right now,” UNBC Professor and Chair Dr. Gary Wilson told CJDC-TV on the state of the BC Conservatives.
While Kealy stands with Brodie, he said in a Facebook post that he acknowledges the injustices faced by First Nations, the painful history of residential schools, and their impact.
“I have also publicly denounced the Nazi symbols spray-painted on the Treaty 8 building because I will never condone hate in any form,” said Kealy in a March 8th post.
His decision to quit the party is based on repeated instances of “disrespect, abuse, and dishonesty within the party.” It follows a scathing Facebook post on Friday, where Kealy expressed his loss of faith in Rustad, questioned conservative values, and accused the party of backroom games.
“John Rustad harbored a lynch mob. It is this behavior and lack of integrity I cannot stand behind,” Kealy said today.
While continuing to defend his stance, he says he will continue to fight for the region.
Brodie says it is still “early days” as whispers of more BC Conservatives jumping ship continue to shape a new reality in BC politics.
*With files from the Canadian Press