Where Does Rustad Draw the Line on Toxic Candidates?

[Editor’s note: This is the latest in an occasional series by Mo Amir called Logic Check, whose focus is explained in a sidebar to this article.]

The public release last week of a 200-page BC United dossier on candidates for the Conservative Party of British Columbia could actually benefit the Conservatives ahead of B.C.’s provincial election. But it raises questions about leader John Rustad’s decision-making in retaining or dismissing candidates with problematic internet footprints.

Under intense media scrutiny for his views or views expressed by his candidates, Rustad often thumps his chest in defiance of “cancel culture.” However, his party did replace several candidates this year after their offensive or bizarre social media comments were made public.

With Rustad’s own recently surfaced utterances of conspiracy theories, there are some serious questions about just how, and when, he decides a candidate proves too weird to run.

Removed, cut, ditched

In March, Jan Webb was removed as the Conservative candidate for Esquimalt-Colwood for spreading vaccine misinformation.

That same month, the Conservatives cut Dr. Stephen Malthouse as a candidate in Ladysmith-Oceanside for his views on COVID-19, including the claim that the COVID-19 vaccine caused magnetism. Allegedly, Dr. Malthouse had also signed illegitimate COVID-19 vaccine and mask exemptions.

In May, Damon Scrase stepped down as the Conservative candidate in Courtney-Comox after his anti-LGBTQ+ social media posts were spotlighted by CKNW radio host Jas Johal.

In September, the Conservatives ditched Rachael Weber as their candidate for Prince George-Mackenzie, after old Facebook posts surfaced in which she boosted a conspiracy theory about 5G networks being a “genocidal weapon.”

The Conservatives’ original candidate in West Vancouver-Capilano, Jaclyn Aubichon, also stepped down days after PressProgress reported that she had appeared on the Freedom Convoy’s donor list. As revealed by the dossier, Aubichon also amplified social media posts containing vaccine-related conspiracy theories and climate change denialism.

Now, with the leak of a dossier revealing similar views of other candidates — including Rustad — it’s unclear where exactly Rustad draws the line.

Rustad had weeks to act

With less than 48 hours before the Elections BC nominations deadline for the provincial election, CKNW radio host Jas Johal publicly shared BC United’s oppo-research dossier on the BC Conservatives.

The dossier catalogued questionable comments and social media posts from various Conservative candidates, including leader John Rustad. These posts encompassed a toxic mélange of climate change denialism, racism, anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments, conspiracy theories, misogyny and views simply labelled "bizarre."

While such social media posts previously ended the candidacies of Conservative hopefuls, further candidate cuts risk blowing the lid off the party’s hypocrisy.

Days before the dossier was made public, John Rustad himself was reeling from the emergence of two damaging video clips.

In one video, Rustad warned the 2023 Reclaiming Canada conference that Canadian children could soon be expected to eat bugs under the guise of climate change action. In another video, speaking to a group of public service workers against vaccine mandates in July, Rustad expressed regret over getting the “so-called vaccine” against COVID-19.

Weaponized by the BC NDP against Rustad, the videos had the Conservative leader ducking the media for an explanation.

Then, mere hours before Elections BC’s candidate nomination deadline, B.C. Premier (and BC NDP Leader) David Eby sent a letter to Rustad, urging him to drop seven candidates who had expressed “bizarre and dangerous views.”

Eby, however, neglected to articulate the most obvious logic for his plea: John Rustad already has an established pattern of dropping his own candidates for having expressed controversial or conspiratorial views.

(Rustad responded with a letter of his own, urging Eby to initiate an investigation against B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon on spurious conflict-of-interest allegations.)

Perhaps by the time of the dossier’s public release, it was too late for the Conservatives to replace any more candidates.

However, Rustad already had access to the dossier in August. On the same day that BC United agreed to suspend its campaign and endorse the BC Conservatives, BC United handed over the dossier to the Conservatives. In fact, Rachael Weber and Jaclyn Aubichon were only replaced as candidates after the Conservatives had the dossier in hand.

With the opportunity to draw from BC United’s vetted candidates, the BC Conservatives simply refused to replace most of the candidates whose problematic online activity is now in public view.

Johal’s gift to Rustad

Wittingly or unwittingly, Jas Johal did the BC Conservatives a favour that may have changed the course of the election.

Surely, the BC NDP had already compiled its own oppo research that mirrored the BC United dossier. It was going to come to light anyway, presumably in a strategic rollout protracted over the course of the campaign. Drip, drip, drip.

By releasing the information all at once, in one big dump, Johal may have upended a scheduled plan of BC NDP attacks against the BC Conservatives.

Now, in one fell tweet, the “bizarre” views of the BC Conservatives have the effect of “drinking from a firehose.”

Both the news cycle and the public are inundated with too much information, all at once, to effectively process the most damning or important revelations. It’s confusing and desensitizing, while (again, presumably) diluting any negative campaigning the BC NDP had planned.

It all becomes old news very quickly.

Meanwhile, the racist, misogynist and anti-LGBTQ+ views expressed by active BC Conservative candidates, as documented in the dossier, comprise the same types of views that prompted the removal of Damon Scrase as a Conservative candidate.

But it’s what the dossier reveals about John Rustad that might be most telling.

In an interview with former People’s Party of Canada candidate Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson, Rustad espouses the belief that the “climate narrative” is part of a conspiracy to reduce the global population.

This belief extends beyond Rustad being an old-school climate change denier. Along with his bug-eating comments and his vaccine regret, it illustrates the leader of the Conservative Party of BC — who may very well be B.C.’s next premier — as an out-there conspiracy theorist.

Rustad’s views are comparable with the kind of conspiracy theories that cost Webb, Malthouse, Weber and Aubichon their candidacies with Rustad’s party.

The BC Conservative leader may, in fact, be sympathetic to the same views that some of his candidates were punished for espousing. At least, that’s what Rustad’s comments would suggest.

The difference is that John Rustad is lucky that it all came out the way it did.

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