Overview

• John Rustad confirmed a letter warning of “blackmail materials,” including alleged secret phone recordings and text messages held by former MLAs and staffers.
• He says the materials were used to pressure current members to accept jobs or contracts with the breakaway One BC party or to make specific statements under threat of exposure.
• Rustad alleges an unnamed former staffer directly contacted multiple individuals to carry out the coercion and that party officials are still deciding whether to refer the matter to the RCMP.
• Dallas Brodie and Tara Armstrong, who helped launch One BC last week, have denied the accusations as “wild lies” and defamatory.
• The dispute follows earlier fractures over social values and residential school remarks that led to Brodie’s expulsion and prompted other MLAs to quit and form One BC.