Rustad says B.C. Conservatives having ‘family’ issues, amid defiance and disunity

VICTORIA — B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad says the party is having “family” issues — but he’s not worried about a threat to his leadership ahead of the Opposition’s annual general meeting.

In fact, Rustad pointed to a lack of party unity displayed in the legislature on Monday as a defining characteristic.

“At the end of the day, we said we would have free votes. We said we would be supporting people to be able to have free speech and that’s what this looks like,” Rustad told reporters on Tuesday.

He was speaking the day after five Conservatives voted against a motion condemning American tariffs that was supported by both the NDP government and the bulk in the Opposition ranks, including Rustad.

While Rustad suggested he was fine with the vote, he continued to face clearer defiance from his attorney general critic, Dallas Brodie.

Brodie has snubbed Rustad’s wishes over a weekend social media post on X in which she said there are “zero” confirmed child burial sites at the former residential school in Kamloops, B.C.

This raised concerns from Rustad that the comment could be “misinterpreted,” and while he said Monday that he asked Brodie to delete the post, it remained online, having been viewed almost 500,000 times.

“As a family, you have these issues,” Rustad said of the legislature vote.

Conservative House leader A’aliya Warbus of the Sto:lo Nation posted on X on Monday that “questioning the narratives of people who lived and survived these atrocities, is nothing but harmful and taking us backward in reconciliation.”

But she denied Tuesday that she was responding to Brodie.

The defiance and disunity comes ahead of the party’s AGM in Nanaimo, B.C., on Saturday. The party said it expects a record turnout at the meeting that will include election of a board of directors and a vote on amending its constitution.

Rustad said there “isn’t a mechanism” for a leadership contest at the meeting.

However, he later said members would be asked this year if they want a leadership review, in line with the party’s constitution.

Brodie — who represents Vancouver-Quilchena and has not responded to requests for comment — was among the five B.C. Conservatives who voted against the motion that condemned U.S. tariffs and backed “proportionate retaliatory action.”

So was Chilliwack North MLA Heather Maahs.

When asked if Rustad is facing a revolt as party leader, Maahs said: “Absolutely not. That’s insane.”

“I’m so proud to have John Rustad as our leader, who actually gives us a voice,” she said.

Bruce Banman, the Conservative whip, said the dissenting votes didn’t suggest a fracture within the party.

“There are those that, depending on what their personal stance was, what the issues in their ridings were, took a look at this as being the trap that exactly it was,” said the MLA for Abbotsford South.

Nevertheless, he supported the motion “because I looked at the overall punitive damage that the tariffs would do to the agricultural agriculture in my riding.”

Dissenter Brent Chapman said he voted against the motion over concern that going after Republican states — a tactic championed by Premier David Eby — could bring retaliatory pressure against B.C.

“I think we’re all against tariffs but what I was against is signalling that we are going to go after Republican states and what that could bring back on British Columbia,” said Brent Chapman, MLA for Surrey South.

The governing NDP was quick to highlight the disunity in the Opposition ranks.

Ravi Kahlon, chair of a cabinet committee on tariffs, said the government had been “hoping yesterday to show a sign of unity and strength.”

“(But) what we got instead was a B.C. Conservative party that’s more interested in flying the MAGA flag than the Canadian flag,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 25, 2025.

Marcy Nicholson, The Canadian Press