“It’s the right thing to do.”
—John Rustad
John Rustad made headlines earlier this week when he publicly called on former Liberal premiers Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark to butt out of meddling in the ongoing drama inside the BC Conservative Party.
“They had their time, they did lots of positive things, but it’s time they let politics go,” Rustad said. “It is time for that older generation of politicians to step aside.”
But after he walked away from his press conference Monday, he said the thought stuck with him that maybe it was his time too.
“It got me thinking it is time for the next generation,” Rustad said in an interview.
And so Wednesday, on the first full day of the provincial election campaign, Rustad abruptly withdrew his name from re-election in Nechako Lakes, and announced his retirement instead.
“It’s mixed feelings,” he said. “But I think it’s the right thing to do.”
‘No regrets’
That ends the career of one of the most consequential British Columbia politicians of his time. It was Rustad who began to reshape B.C. politics in 2022, after taking his termination from the BC United party and parlaying it into becoming leader of the mathballed BC Conservatives.
With the help of a crew of organizers like Angelo Isidorou and Aisha Estey, Rustad slowly travelled the province signing up members, organizing riding associations and doing the groundwork of building the party. By 2023, he’d pulled over MLA Bruce Banman. And by 2024, other BC United MLAs started defecting alongside donors and organizers to the point Rustad toppled BC United and became the main alternative party to David Eby’s BC NDP.
In the subsequent 2024 election, he led the Conservatives to 44 seats, just a couple shy of defeating the Eby government, in a campaign that surprised pretty much everybody.
Rustad said he has “no regrets” about his career, which spanned cabinet portfolios in forestry and Indigenous relations under both Campbell and Clark. But he’s proudest of the Conservatives.
“I basically gave them everything I could,” he said. “I don’t think there’s much more I could have given them. They are well-positioned. I think they are going to win this election. I think David Eby made a terrible mistake.”
The Conservatives are scrambling to mount an election campaign against the NDP, after Eby called a snap writ drop Tuesday. The party is in disarray after leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay tanked its fundraising and organization during a scandal-filled four-month tenure. She quit Sunday.
Tulmultuous year will make MLAs stronger, Rustad says
Rustad, 63, said he has full confidence in replacement leader Lorne Doerkson, from Williams Lake. Doerkson tried to talk him out of leaving, but Rustad said he’d prefer to help “wherever I can” outside of running, as well as help him transition into government and the premier’s office should he win the election.
“Let’s face it, he’s got an uphill battle,” said Rustad. “The province has got to get to know him. But the character he is, I can tell you, anybody who pays attention to what he says and how he says things will instantly go, hey there’s a nice guy.
“Lorne is a professional, through and through.”
Rustad said he didn’t want to be another ex-leader looking over Doerkson’s shoulder.
“I’m more than happy to help where I can, but I don’t want to be in a place where I’m imposing myself,” he said.
“I don’t want to be in a place where I’m imposing myself.”
John Rustad
And Rustad admitted he could also use a break. The tumultuous last year of the party, in which he was removed as leader, and then later left to suffer with everyone else under Findlay’s reign, was the most chaotic he’d experienced in 17 years of politics. There were firings, resignations and scandals galore.
“I’d never been through anything quite that bad,” he said. “But I think it will make them stronger MLAs. I think it will also make them more reflective of what it is to actually be a team.”
Rustad said he’ll spend more time with his wife Kim and his pet African Grey parrot named Biardi, who is a bit of a legend in B.C. politics.
“I’ve done what I’ve done, I built this party from scratch, just about got it to government, and now somebody else can take it over the line.”