Former BC Conservative MLAs Launch New ‘One BC’ Party

Two former B.C. Conservative members who have been sitting as independents since March have launched a new provincial political party.

Vancouver-Quilchena MLA Dallas Brodie announced on social media this week she is now the interim leader of the One BC party which she formed with Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream MLA Tara Armstrong. Both were elected as BC Conservatives in the 2024 provincial election.

One BC is officially registered with Elections BC and the party’s website went live on June 11.

Brodie said she established the new party to represent British Columbians who are “proud of their history and aren’t afraid to fight for a prosperous and beautiful future.”

“I knew it was time to build something new to reverse the flight of capital, talent, and young people, to combat the globalist assault on our history, culture, and families, to rebuild our corrupted institutions and crumbling infrastructure,” she said in a June 12 social media post.

Brodie said her 10-year vision for the province includes eradicating “gender ideology and woke policies” from schools and “unapologetically” advancing what she described as “pro-family policies.” She also said she would work on defunding “the reconciliation industry that exploits indigenous suffering.”

Her to-do list also included ending “mass immigration” and the flow of fentanyl into the province while introducing private health care options, and eliminating mail-in and early voting.

She also pledged to get rid of government waste and red tape while implementing tax cuts of 50 percent on incomes of less than $100,000 and 25 percent on all other corporate and personal income.

B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad expelled Brodie from his caucus earlier this year following her remarks about residential schools.

Rustad said at the time that Brodie was removed from caucus for using a “mocking, child-like voice” while discussing “testimony from former residential school students” during a podcast interview, as well as for walking out of a caucus meeting about the issue.

“As a result of her decision to publicly mock and belittle testimony from former residential school students, including by mimicking individuals recounting stories of abuses, including child sexual abuse, MLA Brodie is not welcome to return to our Conservative Party of BC caucus,” Rustad said in a statement.

“I do know that if we don’t have truth—not his truth, her truth, oh, my grandmother’s truth—you know, this whole thing about,” she said, before changing her tone to a mocking one, adding, “my truth, your truth, oh, my truth,” then changing her voice back to normal, saying, “this stuff has to stop. It’s like, it’s got to be the truth.”

In response to her ouster, Brodie said that she “spoke the truth because it matters. I will never back down from it.”

Brodie was officially removed from caucus on March 6 and fellow MLAs Armstrong and Jordan Kealy left in support of Brodie days later.

While Kealy is not part of the new party, Armstrong will serve as the One BC party’s house leader. Kealy has said he will remain as an Independent in the legislature.

A statement from the B.C. NDP was posted to social media this week, accusing the One BC party of being founded on harmful politics and “pitting British Columbians against each other.”

“These MLAs are fixated on spreading anti-Indigenous racism, attacking the LGBTQ+ community, & stoking western separatism,” MLA Sheila Malcolmson said in a June 12 statement posted to her social media account. “It’s the most divisive and harmful politics we’ve seen in BC in our lifetimes.”

A June 12 statement from the B.C. Speaker’s office said it has not been advised of any MLAs changing party affiliation but that if two or more members become affiliated with a registered political party, they would form a recognized caucus in the legislature.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.