Elayne Brenzinger
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Elayne Brenzinger (born 1951, in Scotland) was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, Canada representing Democratic Reform British Columbia, a progressive/centrist political party formed in January 2005.
She was first elected to the Legislative Assembly as a member of the British Columbia Liberal Party in the 2001 provincial election for the riding of Surrey Whalley defeating cabinet minister and long time NDP MLA Joan Smallwood.
She resigned from the Liberal caucus to sit as an independent in March, 2004. Two incidents seem to have triggered her defection. The first was an incident where she publicly alleged that another Liberal MLA had groped her. She later withdrew this allegation under threat of legal action although she did pass a lie detector test. Brenzinger also cited a "secret agenda" being undertaken by BC Premier Gordon Campbell as an other reason for leaving the Liberals.
She was a key force in the creation of the Democratic Reform BC party, which was officially founded on January 15, 2005, and became its first MLA four days later.
After becoming an opposition MLA, Brenzinger asked several questions in the legislature concerning the conduct of Premier Gordon Campbell around the controversial sale of BC Rail to CN. These questions have proven prescient in light of new facts emerging as a result of the RCMP investigation and court case involving two former Campbell government Ministerial Assistants.
On May 17, 2005, Brenzinger was defeated by New Democratic candidate Bruce Ralston in her Surrey-Whalley riding.
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