About 9,000 B.C. Conservative Party members are eligible to cast votes this summer in a leadership review of B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad.
The review comes after a turbulent month for Rustad, who is managing the fallout of a leaked memo containing blackmail allegations against former members of his party who have publicly criticized his leadership.
Three ridings have already held votes — Kootenay Rockies, Kootenay Monashee and Kootenay Central. The review is set to continue riding by riding ahead of the party’s fall convention.
The party’s executive director, Angelo Isidorou, told Vista Radio the timeline for conducting all the leadership review votes is “somewhat fluid,” but the goal is to have them completed by September.
He said the party’s constitution requires votes to be held riding by riding, rather than at a party-wide convention. The constitution states members in good standing must receive 30 days’ notice of a leadership review meeting in their riding association or electoral district.
A leadership election would only be triggered if Rustad receives 50 per cent approval or less from the membership.
A report released this month by Leger said Rustad’s public approval ratings surged during last October’s provincial election but have plateaued at around 35 per cent since January.
The review comes as the party is grappling with allegations contained in a leaked memo from Rustad.
In the letter, Rustad alleges three former B.C. Conservative MLAs blackmailed several staff members and threatened them with “character assassination” to coerce them into taking jobs or contracts. He called the behaviour “extremely unethical, abusive and potentially criminal.”
Rustad said in the memo he was still weighing whether to take the blackmail allegations and any evidence to the RCMP.
MLAs Dallas Brodie and Tara Armstrong, who sat as Independents, announced in June the launch of their own party, called One B.C. They were not named in the memo but quickly issued statements denying the allegations. Brodie said in a post on X that she and her fellow Independent MLAs had been “viciously maligned” by Rustad.
“If he has even a shred of evidence, we dare him to share it,” said a statement released by One B.C.
Brodie was expelled from the party in March after comments she made on a podcast about residential school survivors. Armstrong and MLA Jordan Kealy left the party shortly afterward.
Kealy is not part of the new One B.C. party and remains sitting as an Independent MLA for Peace River North. He also denied the blackmail allegations and called on Rustad to step down as party leader.
Brodie, Armstrong and Kealy held a press conference together at the legislature in late March, accusing Rustad and his team — without providing any proof — of “rigging” the board of directors election at the party’s annual general meeting in Nanaimo.
Rustad told media after a caucus meeting Wednesday he encourages One B.C. to share any evidence they have to support those claims.
Premier David Eby addressed the blackmail allegations last week, warning his party would report the allegations to police if Rustad did not. The B.C. NDP followed through last Thursday, with caucus chair Stephanie Higginson requesting in a letter that the RCMP investigate the “serious allegations.”
“If any MLA or their legislative staff are engaged in it, British Columbians deserve to know, and any perpetrators should be prosecuted,” said Higginson in the letter. “British Columbians also deserve to know if Mr. Rustad, the Leader of the Official Opposition, is not in possession of evidence to support his accusations.”
