South Surrey Conservative candidate Brent Chapman was revealed to have called Palestinian children “inbred, walking, talking, breathing time bombs.” Additionally, he agreed with a podcast host from the fringe that what happened at residential schools was a “massive fraud.” Chapman joked about deaths of Indigenous children after they’d been forced to leave their family homes.

Rustad refused to eliminate Chapman or other Conservative candidates with records of bigotry. He said, “People sometimes make mistakes.”

That’s not good enough for a man who aspires to be Premier of this province.

Dirk Becker of Vancouver Island contributed the following. It first appeared on Facebook and is republishd here with permission.

I would never vote for John Rustad or the BC Conservatives. The platform from BC Conservative leader Rustad outlines a series of conservative, pro-market, and anti-regulation policies across health care, the economy, energy, education, and more. While it may sound appealing to some with its promises of choice, freedom, and lower taxes, it is unrealistic, overly simplistic, and would likely cost British Columbians significantly more in the long run.

Privatization in Disguise, Privatization Without Progress

Rustad’s platform wants private healthcare providers to compete with the public system while maintaining universal access. In practice, privatization results in a two-tiered system where wealthier individuals get faster, better care while everyone else suffers.

Cost Implications

Allowing private clinics to expand will drain resources from the public system, requiring more public money to prop up an already struggling infrastructure. Privatized health care has been shown in other countries (like the U.S.) to lead to higher overall costs, with individuals paying more out-of-pocket for insurance and services.

Bureaucracy Doesn’t Disappear. Rustad promises to cut bureaucracy but adds another layer with private-sector involvement. Administering and regulating private providers would create more complexity, not less, further increasing administrative costs for taxpayers.

Energy and Environment: Expanding Fossil Fuels

Scrapping the Carbon Tax Is Backward. Rustad’s call to eliminate the carbon tax and dramatically expand LNG is outdated, especially when the world is moving towards renewable energy. BC would miss out on long-term green jobs, economic innovation, and sustainable growth by doubling down on fossil fuels.

Expanding LNG and building more pipelines will cost billions in taxpayer dollars and worsen climate change. This will harm BC’s environment and saddle future generations with cleanup costs, while global markets increasingly penalize carbon-intensive economies. This strategy would lead to a less competitive, outdated economy.

Cost of Living: Unrealistic Promises

While eliminating the carbon tax and privatizing ICBC may appeal to those feeling the pinch of rising prices, these measures ignore the broader economic realities. Removing the carbon tax would lead to reduced revenue for vital public services, while privatizing ICBC would drive insurance rates higher, not lower, as private companies prioritize profit over affordability and customer service.

Gas Prices Aren’t Solved by Policy Alone

Rustad promises to control gas prices by removing environmental regulations. However, gas prices are driven largely by global markets, not provincial taxes. His plan is unrealistic and misleading, providing false hope that deregulation will magically reduce prices at the pump.

Lower Taxes, But at What Cost?

Rustad’s mantra of lower taxes and smaller government might appeal to some, but the result would be fewer essential services like healthcare, education, and public infrastructure. His platform doesn’t explain how the government would maintain these services while cutting taxes. Reducing public spending would harm working-class families who rely on public healthcare, schools, and social programs.

Housing Market

Rustad wants to stabilize housing by increasing supply and cracking down on money laundering, but his platform doesn’t address the broader structural issues behind BC’s housing crisis, like zoning reform or institutions and private equity groups controlling much of the housing stock. His approach is vague and ignores the complex nature of the housing market.

Education: Ideology over Practicality

Rustad’s call to “remove ideology from classrooms” is inherently ideological. He wants to replace the current curriculum, which he deems biased, with one that aligns more with conservative social views. This would undo progress made in areas like diversity, inclusion, and climate education, which are crucial for creating a more equitable and informed society.

Rustad’s platform to fund private schools and homeschooling will drain resources from the public system, which serves the vast majority of BC’s students. This would create further inequity in the education system, leaving public schools underfunded and overburdened.

Social Issues and Crime: Reactionary and Regressive

Rustad’s plan to reverse drug decriminalization and crack down on “tent cities” reflects a deeply flawed understanding of addiction and homelessness. Rather than investing in harm reduction and supportive housing, his plan would push vulnerable people back into dangerous situations, increasing crime and social instability in the long run.

The Conservative platform calls for more policing and harsher penalties, which studies show are costly and ineffective at reducing crime. It ignores the root causes of crime, such as poverty, mental illness, and addiction.

Overall: Empty Promises, No Sustainable Plan

John Rustad’s platform is a classic case of saying what people want to hear to win votes, without offering a realistic or sustainable vision for the future. His promises of lower taxes, more competition, and deregulation may sound appealing, but they would come at a high cost:

Privatizing health care, cutting taxes, and scrapping environmental policies would increase costs for British Columbians in terms of personal payments and environmental degradation.

The Rustad platform focuses on cutting government spending without acknowledging that this would harm essential public services like health care, education, and social support.

Rustad’s stances on crime, education, and drug policy move BC backward by ignoring the root causes of social issues and prioritizing punitive measures over rehabilitation and support. Rustad’s platform moves BC backwards rather than offering a forward-thinking plan to improve BC’s economy, environment, and social safety nets,

Rustad’s platform is a regressive, unrealistic set of promises designed to appeal to short-term frustrations. His policies would push BC backward—towards privatized services, higher costs, and diminished public welfare—all while failing to addres core challenges facing the province.

This is not the leadership BC needs for a sustainable future.