Her constituency assistant makes it clear:

琉璃神社-Lake Country-Coldstream MLA Tara Armstrong is vehemently against the United States鈥� proposed tariffs against Canada.

Armstrong came under scrutiny Monday, Feb. 24, as one of five B.C. MLAs to vote against a motion moved by NDP MLA Jennifer Blatherwick of Coquitlam-Maillardville.

Blatherwick鈥檚 motion reads:

鈥淭hat this House condemns (U.S.) President Donald Trump鈥檚 proposed tariffs as wrong and unjustified measures aimed at threatening Canadian sovereignty, and endorses the nationally-coordinated 'Team Canada' plan to respond with proportionate retaliatory actions if necessary, including strategically targeting industries and regions such as products from Republican states, to maximize pressure to deter President Trump from implementing or continuing tariffs.鈥�

There were 86 MLAs who voted in favour of the motion, including Vernon-Lumby MLA Harwinder Sandhu of the NDP.

Armstrong was joined by Conservative colleagues Dallas Brodie (Vancouver-Quilchena), Brent Chapman (Surrey-South), Jordan Kealy (Peace River-North) and Heather Maahs (Chilliwack-North) in opposition.

鈥淩egarding the motion and the vote that happened yesterday, let it be clear that MLA Armstrong is fully against the tariffs,鈥� wrote Armstrong鈥檚 constituency assistant Sonja Dirnberger in response to an e-mail from Black Press asking Armstrong to clarify why she voted against. 

鈥淪he voted 'Nay' as a response 鈥� not to condone the tariffs 鈥� but to the remainder of the motion, which only serves to increase tensions with our largest trading partner.鈥�

Dirnberger also pointed to Armstrong鈥檚 comments on X (formerly Twitter):

Sandhu called out Armstrong and the other naysayers on social media.

鈥淎nd now we know: there are five Members of the House who won鈥檛 stand up to Trump. There are five Members who won鈥檛 stand up for B.C., who won鈥檛 stand up for our workers, for our families, and who - when it comes down to it - won鈥檛 stand up for you," wrote Sandhu.

"There should absolutely be no excuse or beating around the bushes to make excuses for not standing up with the people of B.C. and Canada.

"To respond to Trump, we need to stand strong, unified, and unflinching. Our response requires commitment and courage. To see that some Members are unwilling to answer the call today and betraying the people they serve, instead seeing B.C.鈥檚 sovereignty as up for grabs, is biggest disappointment. True colours are showing, see the list of names to know who stands where.

Armstrong nor her assistant responded to a Black Press question about a perceived rift among B.C. Conservatives in light of the No votes.

In an interview with Black Press Legislative reporter Wolf Depner, provincial Conservative leader John Rustad acknowledged divisions within his party, but denied their significance after the motion vote.

"I'll put it this way, what family in this province doesn't have issues or divisions in it?" Rustad said Tuesday morning (Feb. 25), when asked about the motion. "The question is ... what unites us, not what divides us in terms of these issues and I can tell you what unites us. We look at what's going on in this province and we say we need change. This government has been misspending money. They have been reckless. They have been destroying our economy."