Rustad’s B.C. Conservatives avoid talking tariffs, focus instead on attacking each other and peddling anti-vaccine misinformation

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Today’s B.C. Conservative AGM shows that John Rustad and his party are focused on infighting and defending Donald Trump instead of protecting British Columbians from Trump’s tariffs.

Rustad backed Aisha Estey for re-election as party President. Just weeks ago, Estey attended Donald Trump’s inauguration even as he was threatening Canada with tariffs. Earlier this week, five of Rustad’s MLAs voted against condemning those tariffs.

In her President’s Report, Estey attacked B.C. Liberal MLAs for a 2023 standing ovation in the legislature to denounce B.C. Conservative attacks that harmed LGBTQ+ kids. Several of those MLAs now sit in Rustad’s caucus, including Peter Milobar, Trevor Halford, and Elenore Sturko, who led her caucus in that standing ovation and has strongly backed SOGI.

Delegates also heard from Dr. Stephen Malthouse, who claimed that people have been gaslit by the medical community and urged people not to vaccinate their children. Malthouse’s medical licence was suspended after he claimed that the COVID vaccine makes people magnetic. Although Malthouse was dropped as a candidate in 2023, he said today that he is contributing to the party behind the scenes and working on the party’s healthcare policy.

Milobar has previously criticized Rustad for approving Malthouse as a candidate despite knowing his views. Rustad himself has claimed that Dr. Bonnie Henry used the “so-called vaccine” as “control on the population.”

Defending people from Trump’s tariffs was not on the agenda and the topic was almost entirely avoided by delegates.

B.C. NDP MLA Sheila Malcolmson:

“Today John Rustad and his MLAs avoided talking meaningfully about the biggest threat facing British Columbians – Donald Trump’s unjustified tariffs. Instead, he handpicked a candidate for party president who backs Donald Trump and attacked MLAs in her own party’s caucus for standing up for LGBTQ+ students. And Rustad continues to embrace dangerous anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists like Stephen Malthouse, who urged people not to vaccinate their children. John Rustad and his MLAs just aren’t working for British Columbians.”