B.C. Premier David Eby's failures have been masked by a Conservative opposition mired in controversy, Gary Mason writes.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
B.C. Premier David Eby surely begins his day with some sort of prayer of appreciation for his primary political opponent, BC Conservative Leader John Rustad.
I’m imagining the NDP Leader getting down on a large Persian rug beside his bed and mumbling a Ralph Waldo Emerson-inspired paean of gratitude.
For each new day of the fight
For the extreme incompetence of the right
For an opponent without aim
For a Tory leader who’s just plain lame
Or maybe Mr. Eby just checks his X feed each morning to see if Mr. Rustad is still leading his party, sighing with relief when there is no indication he’s not.
This may seem like a strange way to be framing the current political scene in B.C., given that it was Mr. Rustad who led his Conservatives out of utter political oblivion to the precipice of power in the 2024 election. The Conservatives won 44 seats, three fewer than the NDP, despite having to fight off a slew of negative headlines about the moral character of some of their candidates.
The fact is, however, that the result was more an indictment of Mr. Eby’s government than it was about Mr. Rustad’s personal charm and charisma, which is pretty much non-existent. Also, there is little question that the Conservatives drafted behind the momentum that the high-octane leadership of Pierre Poilievre gave his party nationally. Still, you must give Mr. Rustad some credit for what he achieved. Not everyone could have done it. And there certainly weren’t many putting up their hands to take the job themselves, so convinced most were that it was simply a lost cause.
But as historic a result as the election was for the Conservatives – it’s the most seats they’ve had in B.C. in 70 years – the party has been enveloped in controversy ever since. Mr. Rustad has had to deal with the more extreme voices in his caucus, three of whom bolted from the party altogether, and two of whom later formed a new party, OneBC.
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And then recently, the Opposition Leader gave arguably his most effective critic, Elenore Sturko, the boot for allegedly trying to foment a revolt against him, a charge she has denied. Meantime, Mr. Rustad survived a leadership review this summer, but even that was mired in acrimony. A mere 1,268 members voted, out of a base that’s said to be several times greater. There were allegations that 2,000 memberships were taken out late, paid for by three credit cards, and that there was ballot stuffing.
In the end, Mr. Rustad received 70.66 per cent of the vote, but it seemed a Pyrrhic victory.
The Conservatives are supposed to be the latest iteration of the centre-right coalition that has governed B.C. for large chunks of the last several decades, starting with the Social Credit party in 1952. They gave way to the BC Liberals in the 90s, which morphed into BC United, which disintegrated last year, making way for the Conservatives. But while there are certainly centrists in caucus, there is also a group of raging populists – culture warriors who see wokeism around every corner.
They seem less interested in becoming a party palatable to a broad swath of the electorate as they do being at the vanguard of those dedicated to eradicating the kind of radical left liberalism they see embodied by the NDP. You can imagine the political skills necessary to convince a group as fractious as this one of the need to see beyond one’s personal agenda in the name of the greater good. So far, Mr. Rustad has not shown he possesses this talent.
All the turmoil has been damaging. A recent poll by the Angus Reid Institute shows the NDP at 44-per-cent support among decided voters and the Conservatives at 38 per cent. Mr. Rustad has a 37-per-cent approval rating against 48 per cent who disapprove of the job he’s doing. That compares to a 53-per-cent approval rating for Mr. Eby, against 37 per cent who disapprove of his performance.
Mr. Eby surely can’t believe his good fortune. He has been lambasted for driving up the province’s debt to historic heights, bringing back into play every cliched criticism there is about the left’s inability to manage the books. His drug decriminalization experiment was a failure. Promised housing hasn’t been delivered. The list goes on. And yet, the NDP isn’t paying for it because the Opposition has been too preoccupied with an internecine war.
The question now would appear to be not if John Rustad will step down as leader, but when. It’s long been evident the party won’t be able to overcome its many problems as long as he remains at the helm.