Rustad ready to get back to work after Conservative leadership vote

The B.C. Conservatives will not be looking for a new leader as John Rustad survived a leadership vote yesterday (Monday).

Over 70 per cent of the members who voted across the province approved. Rustad lost in 10 of the 93 ridings, while three were tied there were two ridings where no votes were cast.

According to the party’s constitution, a leadership election would have been triggered if Rustad received 50 per cent approval or less from membership.

With this now in the rear-view mirror, Rustad is ready to hit the ground running and write the ship over the province’s deficit of over 11-billion dollars.

“We are on the road to bankruptcy with the way this government has treated our finances. It has impacted services and we need to be able to rebuild confidence in the people and businesses of British Columbia and we need to get a government that is actually going to start listening to our needs and plans.”

The Nechako-Lakes MLA also told Vista Radio provincial residents are still very much in favour of the party’s message after failing short in the last election.

“People are excited about having a Conservative, common sense approach in B.C. it came through very clear and I am very pleased to see that the members have spoken and want to see us carry on with the approach we are taking in British Columbia.”

Rustad also responded to the allegations of voter fraud that have marred the review.

The issue came to light after 2,000 new party members, all of whom tried to sign up on August 29th — the deadline to join and have a say in Rustad’s leadership.

“The data base was breached, there was emails and a text message that went out to party members and by this breach, there are a number of things we need to look at like moving to a new data base making it much harder for this to happen again.”

Prince George-Cariboo North MLA Sheldon Clare said keeping Rustad on as leader was a no-brainer.

“I think he has built an extremely strong Conservative party movement in B.C. that would not exist without having him cross the floor and bringing in others to participate in this exciting movement.”

Clare admitted the leadership vote took away from some of the momentum the party has built in the last two years.

“The real focus needs to be put on the damage that the NDP is doing to the province and I think that the leadership thing is a distraction from the good work we have been doing and helping support our local refinery.”

In a shocking move, Rustad booted Cloverdale-Surrey MLA Elenore Sturko out of the party following some comments made regarding his leadership after Monday’s vote.

Former Prince George-Valemount MLA Shirley Bond believes survives is the best way to describe how Rustad got through the leadership vote.

Ousting a high-profile member like Sturko further cements some of the internal issues the party is facing.

“Elenore Sturko herself said that there are others in that caucus that are currently taking about Rustad’s leadership. And so, I think the word survived that leadership review is pretty accurate and there is going to have to be a pretty major turnaround and there is apparently a fair degree of discontent in that caucus.”

With a party like the Tories neck and neck in support with the NDP, the thought of changing leaders isn’t uncommon according to Bond.

“The question naturally, no matter who it is, whether it is John Rustad or some other leader, you start to look at it and then if our party is doing well would a change in leadership mean a better chance in becoming government.”

“The BC Conservative party polling numbers are actually par or pretty much slightly ahead of the BC NDP. When you are thinking about how we get to be government, you have to look at those polling numbers. The challenge is that John Rustad’s personal polling numbers are much lower than David Eby’s.”

Despite the setback, Rustad still deserves credit for making the provincial Tories relevant, the issue now is keeping everyone happy and focused.

“John Rustad did bring together a group of people and the results were very significant. It did take the demise of another political party for that to happen but what happens in that caucus room can be very challenging. We saw that last night with Elenore Sturko sitting an independent along with three others who voluntarily left the caucus.”