BY BILL PHILLIPS
I’ve known John Rustad for close to 20 years. I like John. He’s very serious and earnest in everything he does.
Did I ever picture him leading a political party threatening, beyond all expectations, to possibly form government and deposit him into the premier’s office. Not in a million years. I don’t think he ever expected it either.
When I was in Prince George, Rustad was always the ‘junior’ MLA of the trio representing the city and surrounding region. We (mostly media, but others in town too), jokingly referred to the ‘Pat and Shirley’ show when it came to local politicians.
Pat was Pat Bell who commanded attention in every room he entered, primarily because of his gregarious, outgoing personality, but also because he’s six foot, four inches tall. Shirley was Shirley Bond who, at five foot, two inches, often stood on a stool when the two hosted events but also commanded attention in every room. She commanded that attention because she has held every major portfolio in government, including interim leader.
Rustad was kind of the third wheel of the trio. While Bond and Bell were elected in 2001, Rustad didn’t get elected until 2005. He was always in the shadow of Bond and Bell. Gordon Campbell never gave him a cabinet post in the six years he was an MLA in that government.
Probably one of the fortunate things for Rustad was a realignment of ridings in 2008. His riding, Prince George-Omineca, became Nechako Lakes and, much to his chagrin at the time, lopped the Prince George portion of the riding off. Rustad, a Prince George resident, was no longer living in the riding he represented.
He moved to a hamlet call Cluculz Lake … about as close to Prince George as you can get, but be in the Nechako Lakes riding. I think the move benefitted him in the long run, because he got out from being in the shadow of Bond and then Mike Morris, who replaced Bell.
He served as in Christy Clark’s cabinet as Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation, and Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations and, as we all know now, was booted out of the BC Liberal Party by Kevin Falcon for retweeting a post from Patrick Moore, Greenpeace co-founder turned climate change denier, questioning the validity of the science behind climate change.
The rest is history. Rustad jumped on the far-right bandwagon that is creeping across the world these days. From Pierre Poilievre and the federal conservatives to places like Germany which, unbelievably, has elected a far-right state government, more and more jurisdictions are embracing a shift away from the centre-right to the far-right.
And Rustad, who will never be considered flamboyant, gregarious, or a great orator, was in the right place at the right time. As politicians like to say: “If you see a crowd, get in front of it.”
Here in Kootenay-Rockies, things might get interesting as the BC United implosion continues to reverberate. BC United MLA Tom Shypitka’s name was one of the first to surface as MLAs who Rustad might consider embracing as a BC Conservative candidate.
The problem? Pete Davis is the Conservative candidate in the riding. On the weekend Davis issued a statement saying: “I’d be honoured to have Tom (Shypitka) as a colleague in the Conservative Party and there is a path for him to join us, but it won’t be in Kootenay-Rockies.”
Another problem? It might not be Davis who makes that decision. As of Monday, the scuttlebutt is Rustad will dump AJ Wolfe as the candidate in Columbia River-Revelstoke and move Davis to that riding, thus enabling Shypitka to run in Kootenay-Rockies.
As of Tuesday, Scott McInnis has announced he is the Conservative candidate for Columbia River Revelstoke. Stay tuned.
Bill Phillips is an award-winning columnist with 35 years of experience in community newspapers.
