If BC Conservative leader John Rustad doesn’t bring evidence supporting his to the RCMP, the premier said he will.
In a press conference on Tuesday, Premier David Eby said the “profound and serious allegations” Rustad outlined in a five page letter leaked to the media could damage the public's confidence in legislators and staff members “to do their work for the people without interference.”
“Mr. Rustad needs to explain to the public what's happening. He needs to bring the information that he has to the police,’ Eby said.
“These are very serious allegations, and if he fails to bring them to the police, for whatever reason, then we will bring them to the police to make sure that this is properly and thoroughly investigated.”
In the letter that emerged Monday, Rustad accused a trio of legislators of blackmailing his MLAs and staff in a bid to take over and divide the Opposition.
These “blackmail materials” are said to include secretly recorded phone conversations and text messages.
According to Rustad, the targets are being blackmailed to get them to take jobs or contracts with the former Conservatives, or to “do or say certain things” if they want to prevent the materials being leaked.
MLAs fire back at Rustad
The former Conservatives were not specifically named, with the letter referring to "the three Independent MLAs," who would be Kelowna-Lake Country MLA Tara Armstrong, Vancouver-Quilchena MLA Dallas Brodie and Peace River North MLA Jordan Kealy.
Armstrong responded in an online post Tuesday, saying Rustad "got caught red handed rigging his own AGM elections but instead of coming clean he’s attempting to manipulate BC Con MLAs into helping him with the cover up."
“That’s why he’s smeared us again, this time in a letter leaked to the mainstream media claiming that it’s ‘blackmail’ for us to ask MLAs to tell the truth about the AGM," she continued. “That’s not ‘blackmail.’ That’s called honesty. I guess John only tells the truth when someone pays him to do it?”
“We haven’t offered anyone a single cent. We don’t need to. The truth always comes out in the end.”
Brodie to the blackmail allegations Monday, calling Rustad's letter "vile."
"The three of us former Conservative MLAs are people with integrity and we have been viciously maligned over and over again by John and his staff," Brodie said.
Kealy, who did not join the OneBC party and still sits as an Independent, said he had no involvement in the alleged blackmail.
New party calls for audit
On Tuesday, Armstrong and Brodie’s released a signed by 50 riding association directors demanding an external audit into the Conservatives’s AGM meeting on March 1.
The letter alleges the BC Conservatives Party paid “100 or more” members of the South Asian community to attend the AGM and vote in favour of Rustad’s slate of directors.
The OneBC letter also claims party delegates were selected for allegiance to Rustad and were placed into ridings strategically. There are also claims that certain BC Conservative riding associations had their certification pulled to centralize power within the party’s executive.
Rustad’s own letter on Monday denied any wrongdoing at the AGM
He said in the letter that some in the party were surprised at a large number of South Asian party members at the AGM, and that "individuals" had paid for the whole group's transport to the Nanaimo meeting.
He said he understood why "people who have not participated in organized political parties before may be surprised by this phenomenon."
But he said "group-based political organizing occurs quite often in politics and is not unique to the South Asian community."
"I have been advised by our legal council and experts, who were present to scrutinize the voting process that our AGM was 100 per cent in line with this party's 2024-25 constitution," he said.
with files from The Canadian Press & Colin Dacre
