John Rustad looks forward following B.C. election loss

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VICTORIA — B.C. Conservative leader John Rustad started his first news conference since losing the election this week on a note of celebration.

The party had elected the first Opposition under its own banner since the 1920s, its first MLA since 1978. In 18 months, they had come from nowhere to drive an incumbent government to the brink of defeat.

“We have done something that nobody has done in Canadian history in such a short period of time,” Rustad told reporters Tuesday.

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The loss still means he and his colleagues are destined for the Opposition benches, something Rustad previously described as an exercise in “frustration”.

Never mind the distance covered. How did the Conservatives fail to close the gap in constituencies (Vancouver-Yaletown and Langara, Vernon, the Nanaimo region) that their own organizers regarded as winnable?

“There’s an old saying in politics that you don’t lose elections, you run out of time,” said Rustad. “We needed more time to build a connection, particularly with those people in the province that may not have heard the messaging and what we were trying to achieve in this province.”

Analysis to follow on “what sort of issues were a barrier for people that did not vote for us, in light of the fact that there could be an election at any time.”

Such post-mortems can be instructive. The NDP’s review of how the Adrian Dix-led party blew the 2013 election was brutally revealing. Likewise the B.C. Liberal horror story on Andrew Wilkinson’s 2020 loss to John Horgan.

The Conservative analysis should address to what degree some voters balked at the bigoted and crackpot pronouncements of some candidates on social media.

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Rustad skirted the issue Tuesday when asked about Marina Sapozhnikov, the Conservative candidate who characterized Indigenous people as “savages” in an interview on election night.

“I find the comments that she made quite offensive,” said Rustad, echoing what he had said when they were first reported. “And I can tell you that she will not be a candidate for this party going forward, should there be a snap election.”

More impressive had he kicked her out when she still had a shot at winning her Juan de Fuca-Malahat seat on a recount. But a sign, perhaps, that his patience is running out with the more extreme members of his caucus.

The Conservative leader did draw attention to how the party had achieved a measure of diversity in the election: The first Black woman elected since the 1970s, 40 per cent of the new MLAs are women, and almost a quarter are members of ethnic minorities.

Despite his obvious wish to move on, it doesn’t sound as if the New Democrats are prepared to do so.

Premier David Eby indicated several times Tuesday that the legislature must somehow address the racist, homophobic, misogynist comments reported during the campaign. The need is “non-negotiable,” said Eby.

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Rustad had bitter words for the premier as well: “All the way through the campaign, David Eby, quite frankly, was a habitual liar about who we are, about what we did, about our platform. I’m not going to say, ‘Oh, it’s okay, that’s who he is, that’s his personality.’ I’ll certainly be looking to call him out in the legislature.”

However, on second thought: “Elections are elections. This election is behind us, and our job as the Conservative Party is to fight as hard as we can for the average everyday person in this province, to try to improve their lives.”

Rustad had another go at the theme of moving on when asked about the social media furor over the supposedly rigged election.

Never mind that even the most incompetent band of ballot box stuffers could have managed a more persuasive result than a majority secured by a mere 27-vote margin in one seat.

What message did Rustad have for that group of his supporters who were spreading misinformation?

He referred reporters back to the concession statement he issued Monday night: “We accept the results from Elections B.C. As the Conservative Party of B.C., we accept these results and we look forward to the work that we have in front of us.”

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Yet “people have the right to say what they’re going to say,” added Rustad, stopping short of condemning direct attacks on the electoral process by spreaders of misinformation.

On a lighter note, he said Tuesday he was “not too worried” about NDP efforts to recruit a Conservative MLA with legislature experience to serve as Speaker.

He doubted there would be much interest, and by Wednesday that looked to be the case.

Only a half dozen or so Conservatives have previously served in the legislature.

The most likely candidates, MLAs Ian Paton, Peter Milobar, Elenore Sturko all respectfully declined the Speaker role. MLA Trevor Halford was not so respectful: “No f-ing way,” he said.

Presuming the turn-downs continue, the premier would be forced to turn to one of his own — most likely Raj Chouhan, the patient, dutiful Burnaby New Democrat who served as Speaker in the last house.

“It’s a great honour,” the premier could tell him. And besides, all the other prospects said “no”.

vpalmer@postmedia.com

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