Local Conservative Party riding association board calls on Rustad to step down as leader

Local conservatives are calling on the Conservative Party of B.C. for leadership change.

In a letter sent on Nov. 7 to the Conservative Party caucus, the Tri-Cities, Burnaby and New Westminster riding associations asked for party leader John Rustad to be replaced with an interim leader and call a new leadership contest.

“The hope is to give the MLAs some political cover to really organize against Rustad and stand up for our party, because if they don’t stand up for new leadership, then we’re going to lose the next election,” said Corey Brooks, the president of the Burnaby North riding association and the top signatory of the letter.

He told the Dispatch that three Tri-Cities ridings — Coquitlam-Maillardville, Coquitlam-Burke Mountain and Port Moody-Burquitlam — have all lost at least one board member in the past two months. He didn’t provide their names. 

While most of these former board members supported John Rustad during the leadership review, the subsequent turmoil in the party caused them to leave, “because they were disillusioned by John’s leadership,” explained Brooks.

“The chaos in our party has made it so the grassroots are losing enthusiasm for our party, so it’s harder to contact volunteers and it’s harder to get donations,” he said.

This “chaos” is things like MLAs leaving or getting kicked out of the Conservative caucus, and staff getting fired.

“If we had an election today, we would lose, and not by a small margin,” he said.

He also criticized the results of the Conservative leadership review, saying that while they were technically a “passing grade, they were not a strong endorsement,” given that there were just over 1,200 votes for a provincial party.

Brooks said that since they sent the letter, they have not had a response from the Conservative caucus but other riding associations have said they agree with with them.

Losing MLAs

This comes during a tumultuous time for Rustad, who’s now faced numerous calls to step down after falling short of victory in last October’s election.

On Oct. 21, the party’s management committee sent a letter to Rustad, stating that they “cease to have confidence in your leadership” and asking him to “immediately step down as leader.”

They cited ”the unprecedented level of turmoil that has engulfed our party since the October 18, 2024 provincial general election,” that shows “no sign of abating.”

On Oct. 22 Rustad told reporters he would not step down.

The most recent MLA to leave the caucus was Amelia Boultbee, who represents Penticton Summerland.

Rustad kicked out Elenore Sturko of Surrey-Cloverdale in September and Dallas Brodie of Vancouver-Quilchena in March.

Jordan Kealy and Tara Armstrong both left the party following Brodie’s exit. 

He also fired B.C. Conservative caucus staffer Lindsay Shepherd, after social media posts where she said flying the orange Survivors’ flag (which honours residential school survivors) was a “disgrace.”

The Dispatch reached out to John Rustad and the Conservative Party of BC but did not hear back by deadline.