BC Conservative Party Leader John Rustad said he wouldn’t be stepping down as the party’s leader yesterday (Wednesday), despite calls from now former caucus members and the Party’s management committee.
“What British Columbians should be concerned about is that the problem we have when we don’t have an effective opposition that is completely focused on holding the government to account,” said Former MLA and Political Analyst Shirley Bond.
“When you think about the headlines, virtually everyday it’s about what’s the next situation in the caucus room for the BC Conservative Party, what British Columbians want our government and our opposition to be focused on are things like public safety and affordability and looking at how we grow the economy and work our way through some of those huge challenges that we face.”
Bond said her concern is that when parties are focused on trying to keep the party working together, they don’t have the focus needed to concentrate on important issues.
She added Rustad has to be given credit for leading the Conservatives to a tight finish in the 2024 Provincial Election.
“He brought that party basically to a status that had not been seen before in British Columbia, that’s a significant accomplishment,” she said.
“But he also brought together a group of people with very diverse opinions, many of them with little or no legislative experience, and that isn’t the be all and end all, those of us who have served started out with no experience as well, but it is the ability to manage a caucus that is full of diverse views, finding ways to come to some sort of consensus so that at least you can work together in a constructive way.”
“While you can quote numbers over 70 per cent, you need to look at how many people actually participated in that process,” she said.
“It certainly is a challenge when you look at the team that you’ve built around you from the board and executive perspective are saying we need you to step away, and you continue to stand up and say I am going to hang on.”
Bond said there’s also a gap that is growing as to who is currently the stronger leader.
“The Conservatives were actually getting quite close to the NDP, we see that gap widening, and when it comes to looking at Eby’s numbers versus Rustad’s number, that gap is widening,” she said.
“The Conservative Party of BC has to look at how are they going to continue to operate and have a chance in an election that’s still several years away, but those are the bigger picture issues, how do they actually make themselves effective as an opposition, and how do they set a goal for themselves of winning the next election.”
Bond added the continued discourse gives the government a “runway to continue to do what they’re doing.”
“Increased debt, we’re looking at other issues around property rights, you name it, there are significant issues with public safety,” she said.
“While the BC Conservatives are focusing on their internal issues, it’s very hard for them to mount the kind of objective role of the opposition, holding the government to account when they’re busy just trying to keep the number of people in the room. From my perspective it’s British Columbians who are going to pay a price here, because we do need both government and opposition and opposition has a very specific job to do, that is to call out the government, to find alternative solutions and present them to British Columbians, and at the moment, the BC Conservatives are struggling to get past the latest headline every day.”
Something going on in the Prince George area you think people should know about?
Send us a news tip by emailing [email protected].
