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BC Conservative committee pens letter asking John Rustad to resign
The BC Conservative Party’s management committee has penned a letter to leader John Rustad asking him to resign immediately.
While the committee has no power to remove Rustad as leader, the letter is signed by some of the key people who helped the BC Conservatives win 44 seats in the last provincial election.
“As the leader, it is your responsibility to unite the party around a common vision and to lead us forward with purpose and clarity,” the letter reads in part.
“As evidenced by sagging poll numbers, memberships, fundraising, a shrinking caucus and staff, philosophically inconsistent policy, low morale, and perhaps most importantly, a lack of enthusiasm and tepid endorsement from our membership, your leadership has ceased to serve that purpose.”
This comes two days after Penticton-Summerland MLA Amelia Boultbee announced she was quitting the BC Conservative Party to sit as an independent.
“I’m shocked on one level because that to me seems very significant, but I think that’s the right thing to do,” Boultbee told Global News on Wednesday.
“I support that letter. I haven’t read it myself, but I hope that John will take a look at the real situation here, stop deluding himself. He’s convinced himself there’s no problem and that this is all just gonna go away.”
Rustad has already responded to the letter, saying he will not resign as leader.
Rustad told reporters that the letter was an “internal matter within the party” and he plans to “have an opportunity to speak with the management committee.”
–with files from The Canadian Press
