Geoff Russ is a writer and columnist based in West Vancouver.John Rustad’s leadership is the biggest story of the Conservative Party of British Columbia, and for all the wrong reasons. Since narrowly winning last year’s provincial election, NDP Premier David Eby has seen his reputation start to collapse. Most controversial has been his secretive deals to remake laws surrounding land use and grant enormous decision-making authority to First Nations governments without input from voters. .OLDCORN: The public square is for everyone — not just the ‘tolerant’ Left.Furthermore, his reckless spending has shattered the province’s fiscal situation, and he continues to oppose major pipelines like oil pipelines from Alberta to the West Coast. On files like affordability, homelessness, drug abuse, and job creation, the BC NDP has failed to make improvements. By all metrics, the leader of the BC Conservative opposition should be seen as a premier-in-waiting. The fact that Rustad is not speaks volumes about the problem facing the party. They are seen more as a raucous bunch that wastes their time bickering with each other instead of popularizing policy alternatives. .It is not as if the BC Conservatives lack policies, for they are all there on the party’s website. The issue is that they are barely on the public radar. Since coming within a hair of forming government in the 2024 provincial election, the Conservatives have seen three newly elected MLAs bolt. Two of them formed OneBC as a protest party against Rustad’s leadership following clashes over his approach to reconciliation and indigenous policy. What should have been an isolated incident in the winter has snowballed into the summer and is consuming the party’s time and energy. .EDITORIAL: Don’t hold parents hostage: Alberta teachers shouldn’t be striking.It is not as if the BC Conservatives cannot force policy changes from the NDP. During the election campaign, pressure from the party pushed Eby into backtracking on the provincial carbon tax and involuntary treatment for drug addicts and the mentally ill. Instead of building on the momentum, the defections to OneBC have been matched by what amounts to internal purges of the party staff. These include the firing of research officer Siavash Tahan, followed soon after by the shocking dismissal of Lindsay Shepherd, a communications staffer. In the leadup to Truth and Reconciliation Day, Shepherd posted a sharp critique of the holiday on X, questioning the claims that 215 Indigenous children were buried at the former Kamloops Residential School. .The post was predictably controversial, with many criticizing Shepherd for making the post while a member of the party staff. After the CBC reported on the incident, Shepherd, a mother of two, announced that she had been fired by Rustad despite being thirty-two weeks pregnant and preparing to go on maternity leave. No matter how you feel about Shepherd’s post, which she removed, firing a pregnant woman and longtime party loyalist was a toxic move. Shepherd first made a name for herself in 2017, standing up for free speech while a student at Sir Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario. She had been part of the BC Conservative Party since 2022. .MAY: Jason Kenney’s independence panic misses the point.At the time, young conservatives like herself and Angelo Isidorou started building up the then-moribund party as an alternative to the BC Liberals.Shepherd’s termination has outraged many party members, staffers, and reportedly even many sitting Conservative MLAs. Some pointed to the fact that Rustad himself was ejected from the BC Liberal (later BC United) caucus in 2022 for reposting content that the party leader Kevin Falcon disagreed with. Following Shepherd’s firing, accusations of hypocrisy were levelled at Rustad and the people around him. Support for freedom of speech has been a nominal pillar of the BC Conservative platform since the party’s inception. .One thing is perfectly clear, Rustad cannot claim to enjoy the confidence of his party right now, whether they be staff, volunteers, or MLAs. If he wants to credibly lead the party into the next provincial election, Rustad needs to step up and hold a leadership race to prove it. There is precedent for this. In 1983, federal Progressive Conservative leader Joe Clark held a leadership race after the party faithful started questioning his capabilities, and was defeated and replaced by Brian Mulroney. Right now, an atmosphere of distrust, uncertainty, and anger is permeating in the BC Conservative Party at a time when they should be mentally preparing themselves to form government. The NDP have been in power since 2017, and they are tired and have badly underachieved under Eby. .HANNAFORD: If it was just the money, the teachers would be in the classroom.Given the state of the province’s job market, the cost of housing, the potential undermining of private property rights, and simple voter fatigue, the NDP should not be statistically tied or leading the BC Conservatives in the polls. The BC Conservatives need to get through these growing pains by clearing the air and wiping the slate clean. Rustad can help with that by committing to hold a leadership race as soon as possible, or by stepping aside with honour while he still can. Geoff Russ is a writer and columnist based in West Vancouver.
