A petition to recall Vancouver-Quilchena MLA Dallas Brodie has failed after organizers fell short of the number of signatures needed to oust the OneBC leader from the legislature, Elections BC says.
The petition secured less than a quarter of the signatures required to trigger Brodie’s removal from office, the elections agency said in a statement.
The petition accused Brodie—who was removed from the B.C. Conservative caucus last year—of focusing on building a new political party, OneBC, rather than serving her constituents in Vancouver-Quilchena.
Dorothy Cumming, the proponent of the recall petition, needed to collect signatures from more than 40 percent of the voters who were registered to vote in Brodie’s district on the day she was elected, Elections BC said. Cumming submitted fewer than 3,700 signatures, far below the more than 15,000 needed.
“As the number of signatures returned does not meet the required threshold, Elections BC will not take further action on the petition,” the elections agency said.
Brodie responded to the failed effort with a post on her social media captioned “Happy Recall Fail Day!” The post showed a photo of Brodie smiling while holding a cake decorated with a smiley face and the words “At least you tried!”
Organizers of the petition posted a statement on the “Residents Against Dallas Brodie” Facebook page to acknowledge their attempt to recall the MLA had failed. The group said the campaign was still a success because it engaged “thousands of residents in conversations about the future of the community.”
The post included a statement from Cumming, the leader of the group and a resident of Vancouver-Quilchena for 45 years.
“I wish my elected representative was someone else,” the retired registered nurse said. “Someone who had even 5 percent of the dedication to working with and for the constituents of this riding.”
Brodie was elected as a B.C. Conservative in the fall of 2024, but was expelled from the caucus after just five months when then-leader John Rustad accused her of using a “mocking, child-like voice” when talking about “testimony from former residential school students” during a podcast interview,
During the March 2025 interview, Brodie had talked about the need to establish the truth when it comes to residential schools.
“I do know that if we don’t have truth—not his truth, her truth, oh, my grandmother’s truth—you know, this whole thing about,” she said, before changing her tone to a mocking one, adding, “my truth, your truth, oh, my truth,” then changing her voice back to normal, saying, “this stuff has to stop. It’s like, it’s got to be the truth.”Brodie then formed OneBC with another former Conservative MLA, Tara Armstrong, but they later parted ways. Brodie currently sits in the legislature as an Independent, because a minimum of two legislators is necessary to obtain party status.
Brodie’s view on residential schools was one of the main reasons for the recall petition, the organizers have said.
Brodie has also questioned claims about the existence of a mass grave at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. She has said the 2021 claim by the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation that ground-penetrating radar had found the remains of 215 children is still unsubstantiated, as the site has not yet been excavated to confirm the existence of remains.
Cumming also accused Brodie of failing to address issues important to her constituents, including affordability, health care, and education.
Elections BC said the petition’s proponent, Brodie, and registered advertisers must submit financial disclosures to B.C.’s chief electoral officer by mid-August.
It marks the 31st attempt to recall an MLA in the province since 1995, the year the Recall and Initiative Act was enacted in British Columbia.
Elections BC said no MLA has been successfully recalled to date, but one bid did come close. Opponents of Parksville-Qualicum MLA Paul Reitsma collected enough signatures in 1998 after he was ejected from the BC Liberal caucus, but he resigned before the petition was certified.
