Peace River North MLA Kealy to stay independent for 'foreseeable'

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Peace River North MLA Jordan Kealy (Submitted by Jordan Kealy)

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Peace River North’s independent MLA says he has no plans to join any political party “for the foreseeable future” despite tumult in the Conservative Party of B.C.

Jordan Kealy was elected to the legislature as part of the Conservative Party of B.C. in the October 2024 provincial election, before he left the party in March this year in a dispute over comments about residential schools made by another MLA, Dallas Brodie.

Kealy became a vocal critic of then Conservative Party of B.C. leader John Rustad after the row. Rustad resigned as leader on December 4th after a day of confusion which saw a vote to elect an interim leader take place while he refuted stepping down.

In a December 5th statement posted to Facebook, Kealy said he continues to receive questions about whether he will now rejoin the Conservative Party of B.C. – or sign up for OneBC, the party created by other former Conservative MLAs.

However, in his post he alleged the “party system is broken” and prevents MLAs from advocating freely for their constituents.

Kealy wrote party structures make “every MLA subservient to the party goals,” resulting in elected officials who “do not really represent their constituents.”

He pointed to the long-discussed replacement of the Taylor Bridge as an example, criticizing previous governments for not following through.

“Regardless of what party is in power, they use the north as their cash cow while they rarely ever contribute much to the infrastructure needs we have,” he wrote.