Premier David Eby says that if the B.C. Conservative leader doesn't bring forward blackmail allegations to the police, he will.
Eby's comments come after an unsigned and undated internal party memo leaked on social media on Monday, June 16, in which B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad accused three Independent MLAs and their staff of trying to blackmail colleagues and caucus staffers. The alleged goal was to get Conservative staff and MLAs to join the exiled MLAs and leave the Conservatives.
"The leader of the Conservatives alleges that MLAs are involved in criminal activity," he said. "It is a profound and serious allegation that also strikes at the core of this place behind me and the public's confidence in the fact that legislators and staff members need to be able to do their work for the people without interference."
Eby said these allegations need to be investigated by the RCMP.
"If [Rustad] 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," he said.
The leaked memo does not name the people involved with the blackmail attempts, it simply calls out three Independent MLAs and their staff.
Dallas Brodie, Tara Armstrong and Jordan Kealy left the B.C. Conservatives in March to sit as Independents after controversial comments by Brodie questioning evidence of children's graves at residential schools led to backlash within the party. Brodie and Armstrong have since formed One BC.
One B.C. called the allegations "Wild, false and defamatory."
More to come.
