B.C. politics have changed 'forever,' Rustad says, vowing to keep battling NDP

Extended: John Rustad speaks to supporters With results still being counted, John Rustad takes the stage at the B.C. Conservatives’ election headquarters.

With final results in B.C.'s provincial election still pending, John Rustad has vowed to make life "as difficult as possible" for the NDP should the party be re-elected to a minority government.

The B.C. Conservative leader addressed supporters shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday, celebrating his party's dramatic ascension to, at minimum, the province’s official Opposition.

"No question, this has been a historic night. This has been a night where we have seen the political landscape in British Columbia change forever," Rustad declared.

"We're still neck-and-neck with the NDP, and we have not given up this fight yet."

At the time, the Conservatives were trailing the NDP by just three seats, and 23 ridings remained undeclared.

Rustad credited his party's supporters for pressuring his opponent, incumbent premier David Eby, into backtracking on a number of controversial policies, including the province's drug decriminalization pilot, which was dialled back last year.

Should the NDP win a minority, Rustad said, the Conservatives will do whatever they can to prevent the party from doing "any more destruction in the province."

Becoming the Opposition was a formidable feat for a party that garnered less than two per cent of the popular vote in 2020, and elected zero candidates.

"We now have the strongest Conservative party that this province has seen in 100 years," Rustad said Saturday. "This is what happens when you stand on values. This is what happens when you stand on principles."

The 2024 election became a close, two-way race after B.C. United Leader Kevin Falcon announced he was withdrawing all of the flailing party's candidates, a move calculated to prevent vote-splitting on the right in order to defeat Eby and the NDP.

Rustad was first elected as a B.C. Liberal in 2005 and served as a cabinet minister under former premier Christy Clark. He was ousted from the B.C. United caucus in 2022 for his denial of climate science and briefly sat as an Independent before joining the B.C. Conservatives and being acclaimed as party leader.

Prior to that, the party had not been represented in the legislature since 2012.

By the time the writ dropped, there were eight Conservative MLAs – the majority of whom defected from B.C. United in the lead-up to the election, citing polling that showed surging support for the Conservatives and the urgency of running with a party that had a shot of defeating the NDP.

The NDP's campaign focused on Rustad's record as a B.C. Liberal but also emphasized Rustad's past comments on climate change, COVID-19 vaccines and SOGI 123, labelling him as an extremist and a conspiracy theorist – and characterizing his party as a haven for people with dangerous and divisive views.

Despite a number of controversies in the lead up to the election, Rustad refused to drop any candidates.

The Conservative campaign broadly focused on how seven years of an NDP government had failed to make progress on some of the most pressing issues facing British Columbians, including housing, affordability and the toxic drug crisis. Rustad also accused the B.C. NDP of making the province less safe by being soft on crime and fostering lawlessness by supporting safe supply and decriminalization. He promised tax cuts and to "unleash" the province's economic potential.

Under Eby’s leadership, Rustad told supporters on election night, the province has been left "quite frankly, in a welfare state."