The B.C. NDP has reported B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad's blackmail allegations to the police.
NDP Caucus Chair Stephanie Higginson sent a on Thursday morning (June 19) calling for an investigation into allegations Rustad made in a leaked internal party memo against several sitting Independent MLAs.
"Blackmail is a serious crime," Higginson wrote. "If any MLA or their legislative staff are engaged in it, British Columbians deserve to know, and any perpetrators should be prosecuted."
An RCMP spokesperson told Black Press Media the letter was received and the matter is "under review and assessment."
The allegations surfaced in an undated and unsigned six-page letter Rustad sent to fellow Conservative caucus members, warning that three Independent MLAs or their staff have threatened to release secretly recorded phone conversations and texts in an attempt to coerce MLAs and staffers to leave the party.
The only Independent MLAs 鈥� at least until June 12 when two of them formed One B.C. 鈥� are Dallas Brodie, Tara Armstrong and Jordan Kealy, all of whom left the Conservatives in March amid controversy stemming from Brodie questioning evidence of children's graves at residential schools. Kealy has so far opted to remain Independent.
Premier David Eby said on Tuesday that if Rustad did not bring the allegations to the RCMP himself, he would step in.
Rustad is not commenting on the allegations, nor has he sought RCMP assistance publicly.
Brodie responded to Higginson's letter in a , denying the allegations and saying Rustad can't take it to the RCMP because he lacks evidence.
"Let them make their threats," Brodie said. "We have nothing to hide. And we won鈥檛 be silenced by lies or lawfare."
Before Brodie and the others left the Conservatives, there was an attempt 鈥� led by people who now work for One B.C. 鈥� at the B.C. Conservatives' March 1 annual general meeting to wrest control of the party from Rustad by voting out his preferred slate of party board members.
That attempt failed, and Brodie and the others have since claimed the vote was rigged. The content of the material being used in the alleged blackmail attempts refers to this alleged effort to rig the party's internal election, according to Rustad's memo.
Brodie and her allies have so far provided no independently verifiable evidence to back up these vote-rigging claims. Similarly, Rustad has provided no evidence to back up these blackmail allegations.
Time to be the 'adult in the room'
Brodie accuses Eby of getting involved to score political points on Rustad, but Higginson said this is about getting to the bottom of a serious criminal allegation.
"The easy thing for us to do would be to sit back and watch both of these parties sling mud at each other and do nothing," she told Black Press Media.
Higginson added that MLAs are held to a standard of professionalism, and it is concerning if these blackmail accusations are true, but also if they are not.
"It was time for someone to be the adult in the room here and ask the RCMP, who's an independent, experienced third party, to determine whether these accusations meet the threshold for criminal activity," she said.
Meanwhile, Housing and Municipal Affairs Minister Ravi Kahlon went on social media to take a jab at Rustad, pointing out comments the Conservative leader made suggesting he might to back up the blackmail allegations.
"No wonder he hasn't gone to the police," Kahlon said in the post.
