Brenzinger defeated cabinet minister and long time NDP MLA, Joan Smallwood, winning 45.73 percent of the vote.
[2] She resigned from the Liberal caucus to sit as an independent in March 2004 because of a dispute with the party leadership, including over concerns with the sale of BC Rail to CN.
[3][4] She claimed then-premier and party leader Gordon Campbell humiliated her at a caucus meeting in 2003, cursing and yelling at her.
[5] In March 2004, following her departure from the party, she made public allegations of improper conduct against liberal MLA Richard Stewart, claiming he had groped her at a night club in Victoria.
[12] 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.