Three Months After Eby’s Floor-Crossing Victory Lap, Boultbee Is Out

David Eby sold Amelia Boultbee’s July move into the BC NDP as evidence that his team was expanding. Less than three months later, the Penticton-Summerland MLA is not running in the snap election Eby chose to call.

Castanet reported September 28 that Boultbee will not seek re-election in Penticton-Summerland. The same report says she argued her recent floor-crossing left her unable to build the kind of campaign needed to give the NDP a fair shot in the riding. That is Boultbee’s stated explanation, not a finding about anyone else’s motives.

The timing is brutal for Eby’s judgment. Boultbee was elected in 2024 as a Conservative. Elections BC’s final count record lists Amelia Boultbee as the elected Conservative candidate in Penticton-Summerland. She later sat as an Independent, then joined the NDP on July 3, when Eby and the governing caucus presented the move as a vote of confidence in the government’s direction.

At the time, the message from New Democrats was obvious: Eby’s coalition was growing while the opposition fractured. Global News preserved Eby’s own July 3 welcome, saying Boultbee was joining the BC NDP team focused on health care, housing costs and major projects. The BC NDP caucus release framed the move around backing Eby’s progress for British Columbians.

Now voters are entitled to ask a simpler question: if Boultbee was important enough to headline a floor-crossing announcement in July, why was the riding not campaign-ready by late September?

This is not about attacking Boultbee personally. She described serious personal, professional and political consequences from crossing the floor, including threats and abuse. Those claims should be treated as claims she made about her own experience, and political opponents should not minimize them. The accountability issue belongs higher up: Eby called an early election and then watched a highly promoted recruit step aside almost immediately.

Penticton-Summerland voters deserve clarity before the October 3 nomination deadline. Who will carry the NDP banner there? When was the party told Boultbee might not run? Did Eby call the election knowing this seat was unstable? And how many other campaign decisions were built around photo-op momentum instead of local organization?

Eby asked British Columbians for a fresh mandate. In Penticton-Summerland, the receipt looks different: a floor-crossing celebration in July, an empty candidate chair in September, and a premier who still owes voters an explanation for the gap between the image he sold and the campaign he triggered.