B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad says he had a sense of his party’s growing popularity in early 2023, but the extent of it really hit home after a provincial byelection last summer.
“It started to really look like a big deal,” Mr. Rustad told The Epoch Times.
Even though the NDP candidate in the June 2023 Langford–Juan de Fuca byelection was the ultimate victor with 53 percent of the vote, the Tory candidate finished second with 20 percent. This was ahead of the Green candidate with 18 percent and the candidate of the Official Opposition, BC United, with 9 percent.
The seat had previously been held by former NDP Premier John Horgan since 2005, and getting the second-highest number of votes was noteworthy for a party that had been on the fringes of B.C. politics until shortly before the byelection.
Mr. Rustad says he can’t think of any other examples in recent history where a political party was able to rise in popularity in such short order.
Party Revival
Mr. Rustad, a former cabinet minister with the B.C. Liberals, was elected leader of the B.C. Conservatives in March 2023.Although established at the turn of the 20th century, the Conservatives haven’t been a serious contender in the province in decades
Mr. Gunn later left the B.C. Conservatives to run for the federal Conservatives, paving the way for Mr. Rustad’s leadership.
The Conservatives achieved official party status in the legislature when BC United MLA Bruce Banman joined them in September 2023, bringing the total number of the party’s MLAs to two.
Small Team
Mr. Rustad acknowledges that the rapid growth has come with its own logistical challenges.“Even though the Conservative Party is the oldest party in B.C. history, first founded in 1903, governed for many years, it hasn’t been on the scene for many years,” he said.
“We’ve been building this up with a very small team for this period of time that we’re expanding. But certainly we had some growing pains trying to make sure that we can have the resources within the party to match the growth that we have.”
Growth
Heather Maahs, a school trustee in Chilliwack who is now running for the Conservatives in the Chilliwack North riding, attributes the rise in her party’s popularity to “common sense” prevailing.
“People are realizing that they have to pay attention and step up if they don’t want to lose their freedoms and their livelihoods and their jobs,” Mrs. Maahs said in an interview.
“I believe that things have gone so far, that the only way to make changes now, and ensure kids get the skills that they need, is to change things legislatively.”
Macklin McCall, a former RCMP officer who is running for the Conservatives in the riding of West Kelowna–Peachland, says he thinks people find their party “very relatable.”
“I was an RCMP officer for 18 years prior to running. As an officer, I had a front-row seat to the hardships our people have been facing, and I saw that things seemed to be getting worse,” Mr. McCall told The Epoch Times.
“I chose the Conservative Party of B.C. because I was very unhappy with what the other three parties in B.C. stood for and represented. They did not represent my values in Victoria and failed or outright refused to do what I believed was right for B.C.”
For its part, the B.C. NDP has dismissed the provincial Conservatives as “extremist” and says New Democrats represent the interests of the common British Columbians.
In May, as it emerged that some in the business community had attempted to broker a merger between the Conservatives and BC United that ultimately failed, NDP Leader and Premier David Eby said “powerful interests” are trying to “arrange a marriage of convenience.”
“Well, I’ve got a message for these lobbyists and John Rustad and [BC United Leader] Kevin Falcon: The next election will be decided at the kitchen table, not the boardroom table,” Mr. Eby said.
Mr. Falcon has presented his BC United party as the centrist option in this fall’s provincial election, saying it is the moderate choice.
“British Columbians are mainstream and not extreme,” he said earlier this month.
“I really believe very confidently that by the time the public pays attention, we’re going to surprise everyone just like we did in 2013,” he said, referring to the B.C. Liberals’ majority government win that year. BC United changed its name from the B.C. Liberals in April 2023.
Parental Concerns
Brent Chapman, the longest-serving member of the B.C. Conservatives among the party’s candidates, says the surge in the party’s popularity can be attributed to being “the right party at the right time.”“We’re talking about the Overton Window. I think that something shifted, what was unthinkable, now people see as thinkable,” said Mr. Chapman, an actor who is married to federal Tory MP and Harper government cabinet minister Kerry-Lynne Findlay.
In an interview, Mr. Chapman, who has been with the B.C. Conservatives for 13 years, said he thinks the party gained a lot of momentum as more people in the province started vocally opposing SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identity) resources in schools, particularly starting in mid-2023.
“I think when the anti-SOGI movement really started to take hold, that’s when parents really wanted to have another option,” Mr. Chapman said.
“It’s beyond what anyone could ever imagine, that people truly feared sending their children to school. They were truly uncomfortable with what was going on, and they felt that they had no say in it.”
In his first question in the legislature as the leader of the party in October 2023, Mr. Rustad raised the issue of SOGI in schools, calling it “divisive” and an “assault on parents’ rights.”
“Parents are concerned about the sexualization of their children,” Mr. Rustad said.
In response, Mr. Eby said Mr. Rustad was “picking on kids and families and teachers and schools who are just trying to do their best for kids who are at risk of suicide.”
“Shame on him. Choose another question,” Mr. Eby said. His rebuke was applauded by his own NDP caucus, as well as by many BC United MLAs.
‘Daunting’
Mr. Chapman, who is running for the Conservatives in the Surrey South riding, says it’s exciting to be part of a party that is experiencing such growth, but at the same time, he says it can be “daunting.”“You don’t want to lose those conservative values. You don’t want to risk it, all of a sudden, becoming a case of people getting close to the prize and softening the approach a bit,” he said.
The party has already seen its share of internal dissent and conflict, with even one riding association getting mired in a legal challenge over a nomination battle.
Some original organizers are also discontent about BC United MLAs joining the Conservatives, expressing concerns that the direction of the party may be changed.
Mr. Chapman says it’s great to have the support of faith-based voters, and notes that in many cases, being very “principled voters,” they may stop their support “if you push them the wrong way.”
But he says he remains reassured as Mr. Rustad has maintained the party’s conservative stances.
“I feel that our leader, John Rustad, has articulated really strong conservative values when he speaks publicly, and I think a lot of those who have any kind of doubts are always put to rest by the strong conservative stances that he takes,” Mr. Chapman said.
For his part, Mr. Rustad says the party is going to stay true to its principles.
“As we grow, and as we have some challenges and issues, … we always want to make sure that we stay true to who we are,” he says.
“We never change our principles—the things that we stand for, the things that we’re fighting for. For example, getting rid of the mandates, hiring back health-care workers, standing for freedoms and individual choice and rights, standing for parental rights. These are the basic values that I think people share across the spectrum,” he said.
Mr. Rustad says any of his candidates who become MLAs will be asked to pledge that their number one priority will be representing their constituents.
He says when it comes to votes of confidence, it is expected that the caucus will vote with the party, but on many policy issues, he welcomes diverse viewpoints.
