A B.C. legislator whose time in office was marked by controversy, condemnation and calls for her resignation will not be running for re-election. Tara Armstrong was elected as a B.C. Conservative in the Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream riding in 2024 but left the party less than six months later. On Saturday, she announced she was not putting herself forward as a candidate. “I entered the political arena for one reason: to deliver as many knockout punches as it took to bring down this NDP government and to finally return the province to the people of British Columbia,” she wrote in a statement posted to social media. “If I were to run now as an Independent, with a three-way vote split on the right, a likely outcome would be another NDP MLA. In an election this tight, that could be enough to doom B.C. to another Eby majority. I’m not going to do that to my fellow British Columbians.” Her statement touted 14 bills and 17 “battles” she brought to the legislature—alluding to some of the moves she made that sparked the most backlash, including introducing legislation to repeal B.C.’s Human Rights Code. Armstrong has also made headlines for her use of a Nazi slogan in the legislature as well as her comments about “transgender ideology” following the mass killing in Tumbler Ridge. Among the bills she introduced, one proposed banning Indigenous land acknowledgments and one arguing that Truth and Reconciliation Day should not be a statutory holiday. Armstrong resigned from the B.C. Conservatives in March of 2025 after the ousting of Vancouver-Quilchena MLA Dallas Brodie, who mocked residential school survivors. She co-founded the splinter OneBC party but left it in December of 2025. According to her statement, Armstrong has had just “one brave ally” in the legislature—Peace River North MLA Jordan Kealy. Kealy is running as an Independent in the Oct. 24 election. He was also elected as a B.C. Conservative but left the party at the same time as Armstrong. Kealy was charged with sexual assault in June. Prosecutors said the charge stems from allegations in Fort St. John that date back to 2024, before he took office. The charge has not been proven in court, and he maintains his innocence. Armstrong ended her statement by saying that any party that forms government after the provincial election won’t deliver the “change B.C. needs.”
