Rustad brushes off Falcon’s clown car comment, says BC United is ‘basically imploding’

John Rustad has full confidence in the group of candidates representing the BC Conservative Party ahead of October’s election and believes the province should feel the same way.

In an interview with NowMedia on Wednesday, Rustad said the provincial Conservative team is made up of a wide variety of qualified candidates.

He said there are doctors, lawyers, business people, farmers, long-serving military members, councillors, former mayors and people from all walks of life that have come forward to run for his party.

“It’s quite a crew we’ve put together, so I’m not sure exactly what Kevin Falcon is referring to,” Rustad said. “I’m not sure what else he can say given that his party is basically imploding, so he’s looking for any sort of angle he can.”

Rustad noted that comments like the one from Falcon in an interview with NowMedia last week, in which the BC United leader said the BC Conservatives have a “clown car of candidates," don’t bother him because he has bigger things on his mind.

“I’m really not too worried about it because the Conservative Party of BC has one focus and one focus only right now, which is defeating the NDP and their radical policies here in October,” he explained.

Over recent months, the BC Conservatives have not only leapfrogged BC United in the polls, but left them in the dust as the election draws closer.

That has resulted in multiple members of BC United defecting from the party and joining the BC Conservatives.

Elenore Sturko did just that on Monday, three days after Lorne Doerkson, former BC United caucus chair, jumped ship on Friday.

Rustad called both very strong and passionate people, while Sturko’s opinion of the Conservative leader has clearly changed in the last year.

She once gave Premier David Eby a standing ovation in legislature when he told Rustad he should be ashamed of his negative stance on SOGI 123.

Last summer, she demanded an apology from Rustad over social media for comments he made about the LGBTQ+ community.

And he isn’t the only BC Conservative to have butted heads with Sturko in the past, as Vancouver-Point Grey representative once called her a “woke, lesbian, social justice warrior.”

Rustad, however, is assured that any animosity is now in the past.

“These things sort of happen during by-elections when you get people saying things,” he explained. “Both Elenore and Paul have had a conversation. Paul apologized to Elenore, Elenore accepted that apology, so we’re moving forward and working together.”

He also said it’s not like Sturko is on an island with the Conservatives, as there are many members of the LGBTQ+ community both running and working for his party.

“We welcome that, we’re building a broad coalition as a party.”