B.C. Tories say NDP government should have fallen because of blurred Zoom screen

B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad speaks to reporters following the throne speech at the legislature in Victoria, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

If it were up to B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad, British Columbians would have found themselves at the start of an election campaign Thursday — because of a blurred Zoom screen.

Rustad says Speaker Raj Chouhan shouldn’t have counted an online vote on Wednesday night by Rick Glumac, minister of state for trade, arguing the blurred background of his screen violated the legislature’s prohibition against virtual backgrounds.

The vote on the government’s Bill 14 was a confidence vote — and without Glumac’s vote, or the tiebreaker cast by Chouhan, Rustad says the Opposition would have won 46 to 45.

But B.C. NDP house leader Mike Farnworth says Glumac was clearly sitting in a room, with his face visible.

He says that blurring the background of a room is an established practice and it’s not the same as using a virtual background.

Farnworth says a true example of a virtual background would be a member of the Opposition “sitting on a beach with half a coconut, with an umbrella in it, and palm trees” and that the complaint about Glumac is “nonsense.”

This report by Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press, was first published May 29, 2025.