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The management committee of the Conservative Party of British Columbia has lost confidence in leader John Rustad and asked him to resign, but he says he intends to stay.
An Oct. 21 letter from party president Aisha Estey and six other members of the committee refers to the "unprecedented level of turmoil that has engulfed our party" since last year’s provincial election.
"The constant and prolonged discord shows no sign of abating," they wrote. "The resulting state of chaos — driven by a series of decisions and actions taken under your leadership — has destabilized the party’s internal cohesion and diminished its public credibility."
It is Rustad’s job as leader to unite the party around a common vision and to lead with purpose and clarity, the letter continued.
"As evidenced by sagging poll numbers, memberships, fundraising, a shrinking caucus and staff, philosophically inconsistent policy, low morale and perhaps most importantly, a lack of enthusiasm and tepid endorsement from our membership, your leadership has ceased to serve that purpose," they said.
"The current sitting members of the Management Committee of the Board of Directors cease to have confidence in your leadership. We ask that you immediately step down as leader, allowing for a subsequent leadership contest to choose a new leader to take the party into the next provincial election."
Also signing the letter were Wesly Graham, Ndellie Massey, Troy Lanigan, Sacha Peter, Mauro Francis and Andre Roberge. All of the signatories except Francis ran for their positions as part of “Team Rustad” at the party’s March 1 convention.
During a Wednesday media scrum, Rustad said he intends to remain leader and that he wants to talk with the management committee. He referred reporters to the party constitution, which is available online.
The party constitution reads, in part, "The Leader can only be removed from office by resignation, death, incapacitation, or the leadership review vote resulting in less than fifty percent... support of the Party Members in good standing who vote in a universal secret paper ballot."
In a leadership review conducted over the summer, but marred by allegations of fraudulent memberships, Rustad received 71 per cent support. There were 1,268 votes cast. The party reportedly has 8,000 to 9,000 members.
"I believe strongly in democracy," said Rustad. "They’ve given me a mandate to carry forward and there are some people clearly that don’t believe in that democracy. I’m going to be carrying forward with the work that needs to be done."
When reporters asked Conservative MLAs if they support Rustad’s leadership, nearly all declined to comment. Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Ward Stamer was an exception, saying he "100 per cent" supports Rustad.
Rustad became leader of the B.C. Conservatives in 2023 and led the party from having no seats in the legislature to nearly winning last October’s provincial election with 44 of the 93 seats.
Since then he has struggled to keep the Conservatives united. Five of the party’s MLAs have either quit or been kicked out of the caucus.
Amelia Boultbee, the MLA for Penticton-Summerland who left the Conservative Party of BC caucus earlier this week to sit as an Independent, said she agrees with the management committee.
"I really hope that John will take this to heart," Boultbee said. "There is no formal mechanism to make him step down, but one would hope that he can finally come to reality, see what’s going on and step down in respect of the people who are so concerned about it." ![[Tyee]](/design-article.thetyee.ca/ui/img/yellowblob.png){kind=small}
Read more: BC Politics
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