Former B.C. Conservative turned Independent MLA Amelia Boultbee crosses the floor to the NDP

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Amelia Boultbee, MLA for Penticton-Summerland, has joined the B.C. NDP, according to the party caucus.

She was initially elected as a B.C. Conservative in 2024, but left the party a year later to become an Independent after expressing dissatisfaction with former party leader John Rustad.

Boultbee said in an NDP news release Friday that she got into politics to serve her community.

“When I think about who’s best positioned to make a difference for people in Penticton, Summerland, and the whole province, my confidence is with David Eby and the B.C. NDP,” she said.

Premier David Eby said in the release that Boultbee stood up for “principle” when she left the Conservatives.

Boultbee took a shot at her former party.

“They’re more consumed with divisive Trump-style populism than on the issues that matter most to people.”

At the time she left the Conservatives in October 2025, Boultbee said it was because of Rustad’s “failed leadership.”

“He has invited me to ‘get the F out’ if I don’t like it, and I’ve taken him up on that offer,” she said then.

Rustad accused Boultbee of leaking internal caucus information to the media, but Boultbee said his claim was a “bold-face lie.”

When she announced she was leaving the Conservatives, she said she would return to the party if it had a new leader.

But after Rustad was ousted in December, and new B.C. Conservative Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay was elected in May, Boultbee remained as an Independent.

Boultbee has said she considers herself a centrist when it comes to her political leanings.

More to come.