Amelia Boultbee is a confident, well spoken and very bright young lady.
For all those reasons, and many more, she could well be a rising star in the B次元官网网址 Conservative Party over the next couple of years.
Her meteoric rise in politics in two short years has been nothing short of astonishing.
When the Penticton-based litigator ran for a seat on 聽Penticton council only two years ago, she was a relative unknown, but ran a superb campaign and ended up with the most votes of anyone running for council.
During her two years on council, sheB次元官网网址 proven to be engaged, prepared, thoughtful and not afraid to ask the tough questions on numerous issues dealing with where taxpayer dollars are being spent.
When she announced back in February that she would run for the Conservative Party in the Penticton-Summerland riding, it caught a lot of people by surprise. They were far back in the polls at that time.
鈥淚鈥檓 trying to make the jump because I鈥檝e become frustrated with what I can and can鈥檛 do as a municipal councillor. I think I can do a lot more for my constituents as an MLA, especially on the issues of housing and crime,鈥 Boultbee told the Herald in an interview the day after announcing she was running in the provincial election.
Boultbee topped the polls in the October 2022 municipal election, coming within 38 votes of setting a new record for the most votes ever collected by a Penticton councillor.
This was after failing to gain much traction following a 2021 municipal byelection.
During the recent MLA campaign, Boultbee proved herself to be well prepared, diligent, hard working, charismatic, well prepared and smart.
She performed exceptionally well during numerous public forums held in the weeks before the Oct. 19 election.
It was very obvious the battle to win the Penticton-Summerland riding would come down to a close race between Boultbee and NDP candidate Tina Lee.
And close it was as Boultbee edged out Lee by less than 500 votes to claim the victory.
Boultbee threw one hell of a celebration party on election night in the upper hall at the Barley Mill as a large contingent of her supporters gathered to show their love, scream out the vote count and jump for joy when she was announced the winner.
Her political gain will be the City of PentictonB次元官网网址 loss as her constituents in the Peach City will miss her as a strong and vocal member of council.
However, she has promised to continue her hard work as this ridingB次元官网网址 new MLA and is confident she can make a bigger impact on bigger issues at the provincial level.
If we could give Boultbee any advice now that she continues to move up the political ladder, it would be to ignore naysayers and critics, especially the online keyboard warriors.
During the campaign, she got involved in a couple of well-publicized online scraps with critics and skeptics.
She would best be served to ignore future critics and online trolls because politics can get down and dirty and she can spend her time more wisely than arguing with strangers she doesn鈥檛 know.
She has described herself as a moderate Conservative and if we could offer a second tidbit of advice, it would be to stay true to that description.
Political extremism has become commonplace in todayB次元官网网址 society, but itB次元官网网址 not a winning formula for most Canadians.
We wish Boultbee nothing but success as she prepares to move to Victoria to represent the citizens of Penticton, Summerland and Naramata.
Considering how far she has come in such little time, thereB次元官网网址 no reason she can鈥檛 become a prominent name and driving force as her party gains political traction in this province for the first time in decades.
