Economic revival is the first task for John Rustad's Conservatives in British Columbia

The British Columbia Conservative Party's election campaign took on a whole new shape this week with the shocking announcement on Wednesday that rival party BC United would abandon its campaign.

But while party leader John Rustad seeks to maximize his political advantage, one thing fundamentally remains unchanged: the party's top priority remains to pull British Columbia's economy out of its current financial hole.

“There are of course a lot of policies that we still have to announce,” Rustad said. “We will announce that in due course as the election approaches. But on day one, our top priority will of course be to deal with the budget.”

Rustad made the comments Thursday, just 24 hours after United's Kevin Falcon announced his party was suspending its campaign. For many, the decision reduced the Oct. 19 election to a choice between the Conservatives and the ruling New Democrats of Premier David Eby. And it brought even more focus to the question of what a vote for the Conservatives would mean.

Rustad said his first cabinet meeting would consider a cabinet decision to extend permits for three existing natural gas pipelines.

“I want the opportunity for us to do more LNG projects in BC,” he said. “I don't want to spend that cost and time, nor do I want to lose the opportunity to export additional natural gas,” he said.

Rustad has also promised to speed up approval processes and encourage additional growth through corporate and income tax cuts.

Promises of greater development of natural resources are unlikely to appease those who accuse the Conservatives of ignoring the environment in the face of wildfires and droughts linked to climate change.

On Thursday, he told CBC Radio that his view had not changed. Humans have “contributed to climate change,” but it is “not at a crisis level,” he said. “There are many other things that I think are much more important,” he said, pointing to the cost of housing and food.

He cited a poll by Angus Reid published in June, which states: One in three residents is “seriously” considering leaving the province. Among 18- to 34-year-olds in British Columbia, this figure rises to one in two.

Rustad reiterated those statements and numbers to Black Press Media, saying his government will focus on adapting BC to a changing climate, pointing to plans announced last November that call for doubling BC's domestic food production.

Rustad said BC's heavy reliance on food imports – two-thirds of its food comes from abroad – leaves the province vulnerable. Rustad added that his government also needs to improve water management and storage to ensure its availability for people and agriculture, and focus on making BC's infrastructure resilient to climate change.

Rustad also confirmed that his government would abolish the carbon tax.

“Taxing people into poverty is not going to change the weather,” he said, adding that eliminating British Columbia's carbon tax would put much-needed money back into the pockets of British Columbians.

Repealing the carbon tax would create a $3.5 billion deficit that would have to be addressed elsewhere in the budget.

“We will obviously try to offset the spending cuts associated with the carbon tax to make up for that loss of revenue,” he said. “There are a whole host of things that I think are, quite frankly, very questionable.”

“But of course the spending that is funded by the carbon tax revenue cannot continue. So that's the first thing we'll look at. There are a lot of other things we need to look at, but ultimately I'm not interested in just coming in and making a discretionary cut to government spending.”

Rustad even said his government plans – at least initially – to increase health spending as part of his party's proposed transition to a European-style health care system.

“Spending needs to increase because we have a huge backlog in terms of waiting times and we need to make the transition,” he said. “That will take some time.”

The proposed model would maintain universal access “as it is today,” but services would be “provided by both government and nongovernmental entities” and funding would shift from the system to patients, Rustad said.

Rustad combined his comprehensive economic policy promises with the admission that his government would not achieve a balanced budget in its first term.

“The goal will be to strengthen our economy, increase the revenues it generates and try to grow our way out of the problem by the end of the second term,” he said.

Looking at the future legislative agenda, if elected, Rustad promised a “relatively extensive” spring session in 2025 and a “very extensive legislative calendar” through fall 2025 and fall 2026.

“I'm not going to give any indication of what will happen first, but the general tone in the spring of 2025 will be to reverse some of the things that are causing all kinds of pain and problems here in British Columbia, along with the tax legislation and a number of other things,” he said.

Among the issues on the hit list are environmental regulations that have driven up housing costs and legislation on short-term rentals, he said.

A future Rustad government would also replace SOGI 123 with what he called “anti-bullying and support legislation” in consultation with the education and 2SLGBTQI+ communities, fully roll back decriminalization and end BC’s Safe Supply program, while building “significant capacity” to treat those suffering from addiction.

“We have not yet determined the costs,” he said when asked about the latter promise.

Rustad acknowledged that it is not yet clear which incumbent BC United MPs and candidates will join his party.

“That is not yet known at this point,” he said. “We are still in talks between the two parties.”

He stressed that time was of the essence.

“There are 51 days, three hours, four minutes and 25 seconds left until the election,” he said.