Dumped Kelowna candidate claims BC Conservatives owe her $5K for campaign expenses

The former candidate for the Conservative Party of BC in the Kelowna–Mission riding has accused the party of refusing to reimburse her campaign expenses.

Alexandra Wright was ditched on Aug. 9 and replaced by former BC Liberal Party leadership candidate Gavin Dew.

She’s already accused the party of offering her $20,000 in campaign funds to switch to the Vernon-Lumby riding, which the BC Conservatives have said was merely to help with the likes of lawn signs.

But now Wright has told NowMedia she’s also owed more than $5,000 in campaign expenses that the party is “refusing to reimburse.”

“They haven't even given me my money back,” she said, when asked if she wants an apology from the party.

BC Conservatives campaign director Angelo Isidorou did not contradict Wright’s claim when it was put to him by NowMedia.

In a brief statement, he explained: “Alexandra incurred expenses as a candidate that she expected to be paid for by the party.”

The party previously told NowMedia that Wright was removed from the riding because of her “campaign performance and conduct.”

Speaking to NowMedia video host Jim Csek on Thursday, Wright said she was “very saddened” by the situation, especially after people donated cash “on her behalf.”

“This to me was the test of democracy and right now it seems to be failing quite miserably,” she said, adding that she “had to be convinced pretty hard” to go into politics in the first place.

Now, though, she’s considering running as an independent candidate.

“The people of Kelowna–Mission are in a bit of a bind,” she said. “They've got a guy who ran for the Liberal leadership not that long ago, who has said some things that I find kind of contradictory to where our party started with messaging.

“So do they vote for him because he's got the right colours on his jersey?”

She added: “Or do they vote for somebody who doesn't have any allegiance at all, like me, who could actually maybe take their voices to the Legislative Assembly without anybody manipulating or telling me what to think or do?”

Wright claimed Rustad told her Dew “had a lot of connections and could make a lot of money."

“So that was their plan,” she said.

In her discussion with Csek, Wright also accused Rustad of recently making statements that “have socialist vibes.”

“We're talking about bailouts of big corporations, we're kind of not staying true to that right-conservative thing where we're a free enterprise party, we support individuals working hard and getting ahead, all of that kind of stuff,” she said.

Wright also said, in a more general context, that Canada is “marching towards communism at a pretty fast pace right now.”

“That's very scary for anybody who has kids or grandkids that they want to have a decent future in this country because right now, I mean, the reason I ran was because I don't see a future for my child,” she explained, adding that she was “worried that my bank account was going to be frozen” during the trucker protest of 2022.

Watch the full interview on YouTube.

The provincial election is set to be held on Oct. 19.