Six months after getting booted from the BC Liberal caucus, John Rustad has decided to join the Conservative Party of B.C.
The long-time Nechako Lakes MLA is now the only Conservative member of the B.C. legislature. The party needs two seats to officially be recognized as an official party.
“What I found is that is the way the B.C. Conservatives want to go. To not block free votes. To give people the opportunity to speak,” Rustad said.
Rustad was kicked out of the B.C. Liberal caucus by leader Kevin Falcon after controversial tweets suggesting climate change is not caused by carbon dioxide emissions.
Falcon has been attempting to balance the value of Liberal members who historically have been more conservative while also rebuilding the party’s identity in Metro Vancouver.
The party was widely criticized for various social conservative issues in the 2020 provincial election, including losing ridings where issues of rainbow crosswalks and free contraception were rejected by B.C. Liberal candidates.
Rustad will run for the Conservatives in the next election in his riding which includes Burns Lake and Vanderhoof.
The five-term MLA was first elected in 2005 and served as the minister of Forests in Christy Clark’s cabinet.
The Conservative Party of B.C. originally tweeted for people to ‘stay tuned’ about adding a second MLA but then deleted the tweet.
A second MLA would provide the Conservatives additional financial support in the legislature and make the party official. The B.C. Greens currently have two seats.
“Certainly if there are other members who would be interested in joining, I would happily have a conversation with them,” Rustad said.
Falcon told reporters on Thursday he is not worried members of his caucus will leave.
All sitting B.C. Liberals MLAs confirmed their support to caucus.
The Conservative Party of B.C. played the role of spoiler in a handful of ridings in 2020, helping the B.C. NDP wins seats including Abbotsford-Mission, Langley East and Vernon-Monashee.
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