MLA for Surrey-White Rock Trevor Halford is the interim leader of B.C.’s Official Opposition after John Rustad resigned on Dec. 4.CHAD HIPOLITO/The Canadian Press
In the wake of a destructive year of party infighting, the interim leader of the BC Conservatives says his caucus could do with more structure and less free speech.
Trevor Halford leads the province’s Official Opposition while the Conservative Party organizes a leadership contest to replace John Rustad, who was forced to resign in early December after a revolt by both his caucus and party executive.
Mr. Halford has left the door open for the return of dissident MLAs that left the Conservatives through the past year, saying that is a decision for the new leader. But in a year-end interview, he said the caucus’s self-inflicted wounds were fed by free votes and free speech that were allowed under Mr. Rustad’s watch.
“I think that at the end of the day, every caucus, whether you’re government or opposition, you need a form of structure, and you need stability and you need unification,” Mr. Halford said.
“You’re going to have different thoughts. Every caucus goes through that. Unfortunately, sometimes ours played out in a very public way, which I don’t think serves anybody well. So going forward, we’re going to be focused on the task at hand – we need to be holding this government to account.”
John Rustad faced months of pressure to step down as leader of the BC Conservatives.CHAD HIPOLITO/The Canadian Press
British Columbia’s Conservatives narrowly missed forming government in the October, 2024, election, securing 44 seats. The NDP held on to power with 47 seats, and the Greens captured two.
The Conservative caucus has since lost five MLAs in disputes over ideology and leadership.
Mr. Rustad, who promised his candidates the right to free speech, rejected calls during the election campaign to dump any who had publicly shared racist and transphobic views, as well as conspiracy theories about vaccines.
The caucus he brought to Victoria holds widely disparate views, without the usual Westminster-style discipline that ensures that MLAs vote and speak in line with their party’s positions.
The cracks showed soon after the election, when the party’s research director was removed for his role in a highly public dispute in which 13 MLAs criticized one of their own caucus colleagues, Elenore Sturko.
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Another internal dispute over values went public after some Conservative MLAs hosted a Christian advocacy organization, the Association for Reformed Political Action, in the legislature’s Hall of Honour. The group opposes abortion and gender transition support for youth, and deems homosexuality “immoral.” The event was denounced by other members of caucus.
Vancouver‑Quilchena MLA Dallas Brodie was then dumped from caucus in March after mocking residential-school survivors during a podcast. Two members of caucus quit in solidarity: Tara Armstrong of Kelowna‑Lake Country‑Coldstream, and Jordan Kealy of Peace River North.
In June, Ms. Brodie and Ms. Armstrong formed a new political party, OneBC. The pair’s agenda revolved around divisive issues: They proposed legislation to block trans youth from accessing gender-affirming care, to ban Indigenous land acknowledgments in public institutions, and to repeal Truth and Reconciliation Day.
The OneBC alliance lasted just seven months: On Dec. 13, OneBC announced it had removed Ms. Brodie as party leader at the behest of Ms. Armstrong, who said she had lost confidence in her former seatmate.
Ms. Sturko, the MLA for Surrey-Cloverdale, was fired in September by Mr. Rustad for disloyalty. And Amelia Boultbee of Penticton‑Summerland resigned from the caucus in protest of Mr. Rustad’s leadership.
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In early December, 20 remaining Conservative MLAs signed a lawyer’s letter saying they had lost confidence in their leader. Mr. Rustad initially vowed to stay and fight, but subsequently resigned and remains a member of the caucus.
Sitting in the office of the Leader of the Official Opposition on Monday, Mr. Halford stressed that he is only there as a caretaker, and he will leave it to the party’s next chosen leader to decide if any former Conservative MLAs will be invited back.
He said the circumstances around each departure from caucus were different. “Caucus is going to feel different about every situation, right? I have to respect that, and I have to respect the fact that there’s going to be somebody coming into this office that’s not me, that may or may not have a different perspective on that.”
His job, he said, is to keep the caucus of 39 together until Conservative Party members choose their next leader.
“We need to show British Columbians that we are a government in waiting,” he said. “I believe that the person that wins this leadership race will be the next premier in this province, and it’s going to be for them to go out and illustrate to the members what their vision for this party is going to be, and then take that vision to British Columbians and get them to buy in.”
Editor’s note: In a previous version of this article, the BC Conservative Party’s interim leader Trevor Halford said the opposition caucus needs structure and the public airing of their disputes was unfortunate. He did not identify free speech as a problem.