A recent survey found that the Conservative Party of B.C. would take second place in popular votes if a provincial election were to be held immediately, forcing the Official Opposition, the BC United party, into third.
The survey, done by Leger and published on Oct. 5, found that support for the Conservatives is at 25 percent, while support for BC United dropped to 19 percent. That is a change from a similar poll done in July that put the B.C. United at 27 percent and the Conservatives at 16 percent.
Support for the governing NDP in the Oct. 5 survey report was at 42 percent.
Conservatives currently have just two MLAs in the Legislative Assembly, while BC United has 26, but their rise in popularity is something that is getting the attention of the governing NDP, which recently released an attack ad against Conservative Leader John Rustad.
In the video ad, the provincial NDPs attempt to paint Mr. Rustad as an extremist.
Conservative Party Rebranding
The Conservative Party of B.C.’s recent revival goes back to about a year ago following a decision of the executives of BC United, then known as the B.C. Liberal Party, to block conservative commentator Aaron Gunn’s bid to run for the leadership of the party in 2021, and him deciding in 2022 to rebrand the Conservatives instead.The Liberal Party executives in 2021 indicated they blocked Mr. Gunn’s candidacy because of his social media comments. Mr. Gunn had been attacked by the competition, the NDP, for expressing views such as denying that Canada has “systemic racism” or is guilty of genocide.
“It’s an affront to democracy,” Mr. Gunn told The Epoch Times at the time.
“I committed the ‘unforgivable sin’ of refusing to call Canada a genocidal state on 3 separate occasions over twitter,” Mr. Gunn said on social media in October 2021.
“Oddly enough, I know from private conversations that many current BC Liberal MLAs agree with my position (along with the vast majority of conservatives and most historians).”
The Epoch Times reached out to BC United and the NDP for comment but did not hear back by publication time.
The Conservatives got a major boost whenMr. Rustad, MLA for Nechako Lakes, crossed the floor to join them in February 2023.
Conservative Party of B.C. Leader John Rustad speaks to reporters in Victoria on Feb. 16, 2023.The Canadian Press/Dirk Meissner
At the time, Mr. Rustad had been sitting as an Independent after being kicked out of the BC Liberals for reposting a social media post that said carbon dioxide is an essential element of life rather than a catalyst for global warming.
BC United Leader Kevin Falcon said at the time that Mr. Rustad did not represent the party’s position on the issue of climate change.
Official Party Status
Mr. Rustad became leader of the Conservatives in March 2023, promising a grassroots movement to bring change to provincial politics.In September, MLA for Abbotsford South Bruce Banman left BC United to join the Conservatives.
“I believe BC needs a leader who is a straight up, decent human being—and a party that’s willing to put politics aside to stand for what’s right,” Mr. Banman said in a press release at the time.
The move gave the Conservatives official party status in the provincial legislature, since they now had two MLAs.
“Our goal is to be competing for government in the next election,” Mr. Rustad told The Epoch Times at the time. “And with Bruce Banman joining our party, it gives us official party status. But more importantly, it speaks to the issues that we’re championing, and the things that Bruce stands for.”
The party says its focus is on cost of living issues, boosting the economy by measures such as lowering taxes and balancing the budget, prioritizing energy by scrapping the carbon tax and getting pipelines built. The party has also been outspoken about “sexualization of children” in the provincial school curriculum.
Jeff Sandes and Isaac Teo contributed to this report.
