Just three days after the former leader of the Conservative Party of BC, John Rustad, was welcomed back into the party by new interim leader Lorne Doerkson, Rustad has announced he will not seek re-election.
Rustad said in a statement that although he feels grateful to have served as the MLA for Nechako Lakes, he will be stepping away from politics.
“I will not seek re-election in Nechako Lakes. I thank the people of this riding for the faith they placed in me,” he said in the statement.
Rustad noted that there is a great deal of work to do within the Conservative party, and there will be growing pains, but he believes that the party is in good hands with Lorne Doerkson.
“I have given this place what I had to give [and] I would give it again, however, my time is done, but the work is not,” said Rustad.
“It is time to pass the torch to the next generation. I do not hand them a finished province. I hand them something rarer. I hand them a charge.”
He hopes to see the BC Conservatives create policies to reap resources from BC’s land if elected in order to create jobs and bring down BC’s debt.
Rustad says that he believes Premier David Eby did not call this election to defend what his government has done, but rather to save his job and take advantage of the disarray happening within the Conservative party.
“I do not think the NDP anticipated what that decision would do,” he said. “It has galvanized this movement. It has pulled people back together.”
He asks that BC Conservatives who are elected work to build a British Columbia worthy of its people and its next generations.
“To those who take this work up: you have been given a great responsibility,” said Rustad.
“Make this province a place worth living. We need a province that thrives, not one that simply settles for getting by.”
The provincial election will be taking place on Saturday, October 24th, just one week after the provincewide local general elections.
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