John Rustad on the rise of the B.C. Conservatives and what 2024 might hold
'People in this province are looking for change,' says leader of party's surge in 2023
The Conservative Party of B.C. appears to have captured the attention of voters this year.
Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad, who crossed the floor in February from the official opposition party B.C. United to the Conservatives in February, became the party's leader just a month later.
The party has not held power in the province since 1952, but polling data at the end of 2023 showed it neck and neck with B.C. United — and, with an election in the coming year, Rustad is hoping to shake things up in Victoria.
He talked with Stephen Quinn, host of CBC's The Early Edition, about the progress of his party this year, its policies, and his projections for 2024.
The following transcript has been edited for clarity and length.
You said you are willing to enter discussions with B.C. United to take down the NDP in the next election. What would that look like?
We want to be able to provide good options for people. It's not about being Conservative or Liberal or NDP or Green, it's just about standing for what's right, just to be straight up with people.
There may be some opportunities to talk about what we can do together and I'm not going to say no, although no one from B.C. United has reached out.
You said you crossed the floor because of your principles and that you would not compromise if you worked with B.C. United. So how can the public trust you will be able to work together?
We're going to lay out clearly what our principles are. The fact that we want to stand for people's quality of life and the decisions we make, particularly around things like climate, should be around that.
It is standing for freedoms and standing up for parents. It's standing up for a prosperous British Columbia and setting aside any of the kind of ideologies that can get in that way.
Parental rights are often used as a euphemism for something else entirely. So what is your problem with what parents are allowed, or not allowed, to do?
They're concerned that they're being shut out of their children's education and being able to make decisions around that. They're not being told what's going on in schools. There is this issue around this social agenda that's happening in schools.
I think parents really want our schools to get back to just teaching kids how to think, not what to think.
You're talking about the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) program right?
If it's creating divisions then why are we doing this?
We should be removing it. We should be looking at making sure that we've got solid anti-bullying programs, that we've got support in place in our schools, but that we have a school that is refocused on academics.
Let's move on to the carbon tax. Why would you scrap it?
There's no question that man is impacting our climate. CO2 plays a role in warming, there's no question there. However, it's only one of 100 or more factors that contribute to our overall climate and a changing climate.
So the question becomes, what do we do about it? What David Eby actually believes is that taxing people into poverty can change the weather and I think that's ludicrous.
That's a catchy phrase, but I don't think people are literally being taxed into poverty.
Close to half the people in this province are struggling to put food on the table. Young people can't put anything away for the future. They can't even have a hope to own a home.
And that's the fault of the carbon tax?
When you look at the carbon tax, it's taking $2.8 billion out of people's pockets by 2030. By 2031 it will have taken $6,772 out of every man, woman, child's pocket in this province.
So should we just keep doing what we are doing then and everything is fine?
No, we need to adapt to our changing climate so that people can prosper.
For example, take agriculture. B.C. is very reliant on other jurisdictions, particularly south of the border. So as climate is changing, government policies may change and if food production drops off, you think we're going to be their priority?
I don't think we should be leaving people in this province at risk. We need to expand our agriculture to ensure food security.
How big a part does the burning of fossil fuels play in climate change?
Climate change is not an existential threat. We are not in a crisis. This is an issue and for many people, is probably not even their No. 1 issue.
Eighty-four percent of the energy B.C. consumes is fossil fuels. If we wanted to replace all of the fossil fuels in this province, we would need to have five to six times as much electricity generated and that's not realistic. To meet that need, you would have to build the equivalent to 20 Site C dams.
We had 25,000 square kilometres of forest burn in this province this summer and spent $770 million fighting wildfires. Do you see a link between those sorts of events and climate change?
What I see is a link that taxing people into poverty is not going to change the weather.
Just answer the question.
Our climate is changing, there's no question it is. But the reality is we represent 0.15 per cent of global emissions.
We need to be able to adapt. We need better management in terms of how we manage our landscape and better management in terms of how we manage fires.
We have lost 13,000 people since the toxic drug crisis was declared a public emergency in 2016. In fact, your riding is one of the most badly affected places. What is your stance on safe supply?
It should never be called safe supply. These are hard drugs. They're damaging. They're not safe.
We should not be looking at decriminalization. It's not about arresting people off the street that use, we haven't been doing that for decades. It's about taking tools away from police that are needed to catch dealers.
What we need to be looking at is a suite of services for people with addictions. We need to be looking at doctor-prescribed treatment where that is appropriate.
Do you think that people who are addicted to drugs should be incarcerated?
We need to have voluntary treatment and facilities available for recovery. There should be an individual recovery program for people and some of that may end up being involuntary treatment. You might be in a situation where you have somebody who's committed a crime, who has addictions and maybe they should be forced into addiction recovery.
But we also should be looking at long-term care for people living on the street who have no hope for real recovery.
Your star and your party's star are certainly rising. How much do you think that has to do with the B.C. Liberals rebranding themselves as B.C. United and how much of it has to do with Pierre Poilievre and the federal Conservative Party?
People in this province are looking for change. There's so many issues and people are saying we need something different.
Maybe some people are confused about the rebrand but when we did some polling, it was at least 65 to 70 per cent recognition of that party. And we share a brand name with the federal Conservatives, but we're very different, although some policies obviously overlap.
But we're carving a path in this province, trying to create hope for people for a better future, trying to just bring common sense and stand for the average, everyday person.
With files from The Early Edition and Justin McElroy