Elections B.C. said a recall petition will proceed later this month in Dallas Brodie’s Vancouver-Quilchena riding..
The independent office said on Thursday it has approved a petition application that met the requirements under the Recall and Initiative Act. It said registered canvassers may begin collecting signatures once the petition is issued on May 21.
To be successful, the recall petition would need the support of at least 40 per cent of eligible voters in the riding, which amounts to 15,232 signatures, and it would need to be returned to Elections B.C. no later than July 20.
Brodie was elected as a B.C. Conservative in the October 2024 provincial election, but was removed from caucus in March 2025. Then-leader John Rustad said the decision came after Brodie appeared to belittle and mock the testimony of former residential school students during a podcast appearance.
Brodie now serves as an Independent and leader of OneBC, which lost official party status in the legislature last December following internal party conflicts.
She has garnered further criticism for her statements about Indigenous reconciliation. She has tabled controversial bills to prohibit Indigenous land acknowledgements in public institutions and repeal the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation as a provincial holiday, both of which were voted down.
The petition proponent is Dorothy Cumming. A statement submitted with the petition application accused Brodie of prioritizing her new political party over her constituents.
“Vancouver-Quilchena deserves an MLA focused on local priorities like affordability, safety, schools, healthcare, and community services. Instead, Brodie devotes her time and attention to her own political projects. Constituents see little engagement or advocacy for the issues facing families, seniors, renters, and businesses,” it said.
Brodie said in a Thursday afternoon post on the social media site X she is “fine” with the petition and supports the right to recall politicians.
“Let the chips fall where they may! I stand by by everything I have said and done and will never stop fighting for the truth or for representation of the 98% of British Columbians who are NOT being represented in this province,” said Brodie.
Elections BC said both the proponent and Brodie will have an expense limit of $36,177.69, while the expense limit for recall advertising sponsors is $6,398.60.
To be eligible to sign the petition, an individual must have been registered to vote in the Vancouver-Quilchena riding during the October 2024 provincial election.
If the recall petition is successful, Brodie’s seat would become vacant and a by-election would need to be called within 90 days. She would be permitted to run as a candidate in the by-election.
No sitting MLA has been successfully recalled since the Recall and Initiative Act came into force in 1995.
Elections B.C. says out of the 30 previous recall petitions, only six had enough signatures to proceed to the verification process and five of those petitions did not have enough valid signatures.
The closest a recall petition came to success was a 1998 bid to oust B.C. Liberal Parksville-Qualicum MLA Paul Reitsma, who admitted to writing letters to newspapers under fake names to attack political rivals. The petition submitted over 25,000 signatures, surpassing the threshold of 17,020, but the verification process was halted when Reitsma resigned.
Brodie’s former OneBC colleague, Lake Country–Coldstream MLA Tara Armstrong, is also facing a recall campaign from constituents, though Elections B.C. has not announced approval for any petition application.
