UPDATE: The Conservative Party of B.C. has removed John Rustad as leader. Read the latest here.
B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad says he will not bow to pressure and resign after receiving a letter from a lawyer representing 20 of his party’s MLAs calling for him to step down.
“I’m not planning to step down,” he said.
Rustad called it “noise” and said the party ought to be focused on fixing the province’s problems and holding the government to account.
“We as the Conservative Party are going to be focused on these issues that are facing people on a day-to-day basis here in this province,” he said.
Rustad did not rule out the possibility that some of the letter’s signatories could or should leave the caucus, saying “that’s something that may happen,” when asked if he would ask them to quit.
“Who knows whether they decide to leave or not, but I am staying on,” he said.
The B.C. Conservative Party rose from the political wilderness under Rustad to dethrone B.C. United as the Official Opposition. It went from having Rustad as its sole MLA to electing 44 on Oct. 19, 2024.
Since then, five MLAs have left or been kicked out, and leaks from within the caucus have revealed disunity and an unstable coalition of members with vastly differing viewpoints on certain issues.
Rustad, meanwhile, survived a provincewide leadership review earlier this fall, garnering more than 70 per cent support from the party’s rank-and-file members. But this has not stopped the drumbeat of calls for his resignation, with the majority of the party executive and more than 30 riding association officials calling for him to step down.
The latest calls came in a letter from attorney Bruce Hallsor, speaking on behalf of the 20 MLAs, who have not revealed their names.
“Who knows why that is, in terms of it, that’s something you’ll have to ask them,” Rustad said. “But given how many leaks we’ve had in this party, I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets out there at some point.”
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