A surprising political shakeup took place in BC on Thursday after Independent MLA John Rustad announced he was joining the province’s Conservatives.
Nechako-Lakes MLA Rustad said in a statement that the BC Conservatives was the “only one party” that stood for freedom and opposed the province’s governing NDP.
“As British Columbians, we need to fight for a stronger, freer — and, this is key — more compassionate province,” said Rustad.
“A province that understands the importance of fighting for personal freedoms, good jobs for working people, and lower costs of living for families. There is only one party that is offering genuine opposition to our NDP government and that’s the Conservative Party of British Columbia.”
Rustad also said he was “fed up” with his former party, the BC Liberals.
“I’m fighting alongside British Columbians, because I know a stronger, freer and more compassionate BC is possible — and I consider myself one of the thousands of other British Columbians who are fed up with the false choice between BC NDP or the BC Liberals’ NDP-lite approach,” he said.
Rustad has also advocated for unvaccinated healthcare workers to be rehired and compensated and has also spoken out against the dictates of climate extremism.
On Thursday, Rustad wasted no time as a new member of the Conservative Party during question period.
“When will this (BC NDP) government do the right thing and hire back BC’s healthcare heroes (…)?”
He was kicked out of the BC Liberals for saying that carbon dioxide doesn’t contribute to climate change.
“Following a pattern of behaviour that was not supportive of our caucus team and the principles of mutual respect and trust, I have removed MLA John Rustad from the B.C. Liberal caucus effective immediately,” said BC Liberal leader Kevin Falcon.
Rustad retweeted comments by climate change critic Patrick Moore.
“No net warming in Australia for the past 10 years. And the Great Barrier Reef has more coral cover this year than ever recorded. The case for CO2 being the control knob of global temperature gets weaker every day,” the tweet said.
