VICTORIA — British Columbia Conservative Party Leader John Rustad was at a low point in his life two years ago, both personally and politically. He was searching for a political home after being booted from the former B.C. Liberal Party caucus.
VICTORIA — British Columbia Conservative Party Leader John Rustad was at a low point in his life two years ago, both personally and politically.Rustad, 61, was also grieving back-to-back-to-back family losses and his own health had taken a downturn.
Rustad said he underwent a period of deep introspection while sitting in the B.C. legislature as an Independent, before he was acclaimed as Leader of the B.C. Conservative Party in March 2023. "That got me thinking if the B.C. Liberals can't do it and the vote is divided, then this problem could go all the way to 2028 and if we can't win then it would be 2032 before we could get rid of the socialist hordes out of Victoria," he said, referencing a slogan used by Social Credit leader WAC Bennett, who was provincial premier from 1952 to 1972.
Elected in 2005, Rustad's Nechako Lakes riding in central B.C. includes the forest-industry dependent communities of Burns Lake, Vanderhoof, Houston and Fort St. James. The couple has no children, with Rustad publicly acknowledging his wife's earlier diagnosis of cervical cancer. “Good God, that to me is Canada, that is the real power of what we want to see in this province and this country,” he said to applause.
But the opposite occurred, and Rustad, a Conservative from B.C.'s north with experience in the resource economy and Indigenous relations faces Eby, a socially concerned left-wing lawyer from Vancouver, said Black.
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