Brittny Anderson keeps posting endorsements, but here’s what Nelson is saying about her service as MLA.

On the evening of 15 October a Nelson man posted a question to the town’s community Facebook group, the one Nelson uses to find lost dogs, sell firewood and argue about council.¹

The post, as written; a later update to it is omitted. Several members disputed that comments had been shut off, and Anderson said she had not disabled them.¹

Brittny AndersonBC NDP MLA for Kootenay Central and Minister of State for Local Governments and Rural Communities, running again on 24 October

Brittny Anderson’s own Facebook page tells a different story. Since the election was called it has carried 22 endorsements and testimonials, from a Nakusp doctor, two former mayors, a former environment minister, friends, and her own parents, who call her “the best choice.”² The community groups where her neighbours actually talk are not endorsing her.

01 In the community groups for Nelson, Harrop-Procter and Balfour, the comments about her run three to one against.

We read every post since 22 September in the community Facebook groups for Nelson, Harrop-Procter and Balfour: Nelson, B.C.; Harrop Procter Community Web; and Balfour Whats Up ?. That is 1,587 posts. Every one that named her, or that she wrote, we opened, along with every comment and every folded reply thread: 35 posts and 1,202 comments.³

292 of those comments were about Anderson herself, written by 145 people. 213 were critical. 67 were supportive, and 12 asked her something. Of the critical comments, 90 named a real issue: a ferry, a forest, a road, a phone call that never came back.³

Comments about Brittny Anderson in the community Facebook groups for Nelson, Harrop-Procter and Balfour, 22 September to 17 October. The groups are local; not every commenter is a constituent.³

Not every commenter lives in her riding; some say they do, and some plainly do not. But this is where Nelson, Harrop, Procter and Balfour talk to each other. In our view, three critical comments for every supportive one, in her own town’s group, is the endorsement she does not post.

We counted 23 abusive comments in those threads, 8 of them about Anderson: slurs, remarks about her looks, worse. None is quoted and none is in the figures. No MLA should have to read them.³

Issues named in the 90 critical comments that named one, found by keyword. A comment can name more than one.³

02 The ferry strike: “you never made the trip to the East Shore.”

The biggest complaint by far is the six-month strike on the Kootenay Lake ferries, named in 37 of the 90 issue-naming comments. When she announced a meet-and-greet in Kootenay Bay, a Harrop resident replied with the ferry schedule.⁴

Three comments from Harrop and Balfour, 30 September to 10 October.⁴⁵

“Never showed up on the East Shore once during the strike,” a woman wrote in the Nelson group. “We suffered thru a monumental ferry strike, hearing not one word from our local representative,” wrote a Harrop resident, under one of Anderson’s own endorsement posts.⁶⁴

She has an answer, and it belongs here. “Because of threats made by a few individuals to harm myself and my team,” she replied in the Harrop group, “the RCMP was very adamant I cancel the community meeting I was organizing during the ferry strike.” To another resident she wrote that “99% of that fight couldn’t be public or I could be accused of interfering in a labour strike.” Threats against any MLA are serious, and we have not been able to check the RCMP advice. Her neighbours were not persuaded: “I think theres a difference of being accused of interfering and being out there letting people know that we wouldnt be left stranded.”⁴⁷

03 Not answering: “I was told by her office she didn’t have time for me.”

The second complaint, in 33 comments, is that she does not answer: emails, calls, meetings, blocked accounts, silence.³

Joe K.’s comment, the opening of a longer one, drew 59 reactions, the most of any critical comment about her that we read.⁸⁴

“My attempts to contact her have been met with the sound of crickets,” wrote a Nelson man, under her parents’ video. “She’s never once shown up for us. Now all she’s doing is blocking people from her page,” wrote a Harrop resident. Her own rules, posted on 9 October, say she will “lkely not answer your question on social media though.”⁹⁴¹⁰

04 The forests and the roads: “She said nothing about everything.”

Two comments on the forests, from Nelson and Harrop.¹¹⁴

Those commenters are on solid ground. We checked her old-growth record: none of the 14 recommendations she promised is finished, and the biodiversity law was never tabled.¹² On roads, one Nelson commenter asked whether she had raised “closing off access to the back country? Rady creek, Healy Creek. Sitkum creek”; another called her “saying zero about the NDP closing the backcountry.” In 68 speaking turns in this Parliament she never raised forest roads.³¹³

05 Her defenders are there too, and they are counted.

Sixty-seven comments in the three groups defend her, some with specifics. One man wrote that she sorted out his student loan when he was a stranger to her: “I got the student loan immediately after she contacted them.” Another, who says he complains about the NDP “all the time,” called her “approachable and willing to discuss.” A Harrop resident pointed out that the local ferry committee “have been working very closely with her.”³ They are outnumbered three to one.

06 Even the old-growth campaigners who back her are giving her ultimatums.

On 18 October Anderson shared an endorsement on her own page from Andrea Fox, an old-growth campaigner who says she has met her more than a dozen times: “Thank you for the endorsement Andrea Fox. Your endorsement holds me with my feet to the fire.” Fox’s image reads “Another mandate? Only if forests and communities can thrive” and “No B.E.H.L? No deal!” B.E.H.L. is the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Law.¹⁴

It is not the first time Fox has set terms. On the afternoon of 9 October, in under five minutes, she left the same comment under 48 of the 147 posts on Anderson’s page: “We want a Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Law [[NOW]] !!! … No mandate without an environmental agenda !!!”¹⁵ At 7:13 a.m. on 18 October, under Fox’s own post, Anderson asked whether it was an endorsement at all.

Under Andrea Fox’s Facebook post, 18 October. A screenshot sent to us, cropped to the two comments; we read the same words in the thread.¹⁶

Fox’s answer was yes, on a condition, and she added: “I believe you are the right person for the job.” Another commenter, Justine L., put it to Anderson more plainly: “I think the photo is saying that this is the last chance.”¹⁶ Fox answered at 8:32 a.m. At 9:26 a.m., Anderson posted it on her own page as an endorsement: “Thank you for the endorsement Andrea Fox.”¹⁴ The condition is a law her government promised and never tabled.¹²

Those are the only two clear cases we found. We searched every comment we read, on her page and in the three groups, by keyword for supporters who attach a condition, a deadline or a “last chance” to their support. Fox and Justine L. are the ones who do.

In our view, two is enough to matter. Old-growth and biodiversity campaigners are her core base in Nelson, and even they are giving her an ultimatum. It is for a law her government has not delivered.

07 Online, Brittny Anderson argues with her critics instead of answering them.

On her own page, where the endorsements live, she does answer critics: 38 of the 95 comments she wrote there since 22 September gave a real answer. But between 14 and 16 October, twelve of them answered a critic by pointing at where the critic lives: “thanks Alberta,” “from Chiliwack,” “bro from Putt Meadows.” To a man who said he would rather drink gasoline than vote for her, she wrote “I love that for you. You do you!”¹⁷

Brittny AndersonReply on her Facebook page

17 Oct 2026

Mike G. wrote

Mike G. I live 5 min outside of the riding boundary. Nelson is my community and I am actively looking at housing in Nelson. I have DEEP roots in Nelson. That is different than living an hour away from the riding with no intention to move to the riding and no real connection to the riding.

Mike G.’s comment in full, 16 October, and her answer the next morning.¹⁸

In our view, that is a fair answer for her and a fair answer for the voters she mocked. Where someone lives does not settle whether they have a point.

On Instagram, she argues. Under the Instagram version of the same endorsement, posted jointly with her account, @4theloveofbc wrote “Goodbye Old Growth.” The account’s bio says it is running as the BC Greens candidate in Kootenay-Rockies. When the ecologist Rachel Holt answered that a Conservative government would mean goodbye to old growth, the account replied that $50 million would protect only a fraction of what is at stake. Anderson answered it on the morning of 18 October:¹⁹

Her reply on Instagram, 18 October. A screenshot sent to us, cropped to her reply; we read the same words in the thread. It is not one of the 95 comments on her Facebook page counted above.¹⁹

She conceded the point: “You are correct that $50 million is not enough.” In our view, the rest shows how she treats critics. She argues with them and talks down to them, instead of answering them.

08 The race is projected to be close enough for her community’s verdict to matter.

338Canada’s projection for Kootenay Central, last updated 16 October, puts Anderson at 38%, with the Conservatives’ Gordon Skulnec at 36% and the Greens’ Nicole Charlwood at 23%. The margin on each is plus or minus seven points, and 338Canada rates the seat a toss-up.²⁰

338Canada projection for Kootenay Central, update of 16 October 2026, read 17 October. A projection is built from provincial and regional polls; it is not a poll of the riding.²⁰

09 She keeps posting endorsements. Nelson keeps asking where she was.

A Nelson man asked his neighbours whether they wanted an MLA “who only wants to hear from her ‘yes people’.” Her page answers with testimonials. Her community’s groups answer with the ferry strike, the unanswered emails and the forests, 213 critical comments to 67 supportive.

In our view, the endorsement that matters in Kootenay Central is the one her own neighbours are not giving her. She has until 24 October to earn it, by answering them in the places they asked.

Brittny Anderson keeps posting endorsements, but here’s what Nelson is saying about her service as MLA.

For Brittny AndersonBC NDP MLA and candidate, Kootenay Central

1. Will you hold the East Shore meeting you say you had to cancel during the ferry strike, before 24 October?
2. Will you answer the people in Nelson, Harrop and Balfour who say their emails and calls went unanswered?
3. You live five minutes outside the riding. Why answer twelve voters with their hometowns?