Amelia Boultbee, Penticton-Summerland M-L-A who crossed from Conservatives to NDP, won’t seek re-election

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In a statement, Boultbee said she could not gather the resources needed to give the NDP a “fair shot” in Penticton-Summerland and was stepping aside for what she called a more winnable candidate.

Boultbee was elected in October 2024 as a Conservative. She left the party a year later over ideological disagreements and sat as an Independent before joining the NDP in July, a move that lifted the government caucus to 48 members and gave Premier David Eby’s majority a two-seat cushion.

She said crossing the floor was difficult and said she was “threatened, spat at, disowned and abused” in public and private.

Boultbee said she joined the NDP because she believed it was a credible, stable party, unlike the B.C. Conservatives. She also said access to NDP government resources helped her community during the Bald Range wildfire, which forced thousands to evacuate from Summerland and nearby areas in August.

She said she still believes she made the right decision for the right reasons, but framed her choice not to run again as an effort to protect her community and the province from what she called right-wing “Trump-style populism” and “grave dysfunction” among Conservatives.

Boultbee said she has “full confidence” in Eby and his caucus, though she added that the government’s economic policies need work and called that a fixable problem. She said the problems with the B.C. Conservatives are not fixable, or at least not within the timeline British Columbia needs.

She is the sixth member of the governing NDP caucus to announce they will not seek re-election, following Lana Popham, Ravi Kahlon, Kelly Greene, Brenda Bailey and George Chow.

Her announcement comes after upheaval within the B.C. Conservatives. Leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay resigned days before Eby called the election after more than a dozen caucus members left, citing her leadership. Lorne Doerkson is now interim leader.