New B.C. Conservative leader could make 'life more difficult' for Opposition Liberals: political scientist

A former B.C. Liberal cabinet minister who has been sitting in the legislature as an independent is the new leader of the provincial Conservatives, potentially providing a challenge for his former party.

John Rustad, the member of the legislature for Nechako Lakes, was acclaimed leader of the Conservative Party of B.C. as the only candidate who entered the race.

Rustad, 60, replaces Trevor Bolin, who was serving as interim leader.

The newly acclaimed leader, whose climate change views prompted his expulsion from the Opposition Liberals, says he's building a grassroots coalition for voters who don't support the province's left-of-centre direction.

Rustad was dumped from the B.C. Liberal party caucus by Leader Kevin Falcon last August for his public statements and social media posts suggesting climate change is not caused by carbon dioxide emissions.

At the time, Rustad told CBC News he believed global climate policies designed to reduce carbon emissions were doing "real harm," and it was important for him to speak out about them.

"People have a sense that something's not quite right, and whether it's in our health care system or whether it's the crime on the street, whether it's affordability or just people trying to get on with day-to-day life, they are not happy,'' he said in an interview on Friday.

"With the two options, which are both basically left-of-centre, the B.C. Liberals and the NDP, they are not really offering the kind of option that I'm hearing from people that they want to see,'' said Rustad, speaking by phone from the side of the highway on the way to his home in Vanderhoof, about 100 kilometres west of Prince George.

Rustad could make life 'more difficult' for Liberals: Political scientist

Rustad, who once held cabinet posts in forests and Indigenous affairs in former B.C. Liberal governments, announced last month he was joining the B.C. Conservatives, who received less than two per cent of the vote in the 2020 provincial election.

"The reason I'm in this is because the [Liberal] party removed me,'' he said. "They kicked me out. We'll see how things go.''

Rustad said he will work to bring people together in an effort to build a grassroots movement of supporters in time for the fall 2024 provincial election.

Political scientist Hamish Telford said the Conservatives in B.C. will likely remain a minimal force, but they could cause political damage in tight ridings where constituencies lean to the right.

"I think it's very unlikely the B.C. Conservative Party is going to become a major player in B.C. politics over the next while and into the next election,'' said Telford, who teaches at the University of the Fraser Valley.

"But they don't have to become a very big force at all to be a factor.''

He said in the 2020 B.C. election, where the NDP formed a majority, Conservative candidates siphoned votes from Liberal candidates in tight ridings in the Fraser Valley and Interior that were won by the NDP.

"That suggests there was some vote-splitting going on on the right making life more difficult for the B.C. Liberals,'' said Telford.