No one knows how many extreme candidates John Rustad is hiding
Today the BC Conservative Party confirmed they were forced to eject another extreme candidate — yet John Rustad is staying silent.
In May, Rustad assured reporters his candidates had been re-vetted and that he “had no plans to replace anyone.”
Despite this alleged re-vet, Kelowna-Mission BC Conservative candidate Alexandra Wright recently tweeted in support of an extreme ban passed in Bulgaria on “non-traditional sexual orientation” references in classrooms.
“John Rustad should tell people these views are hurtful and divisive, but instead he’s staying silent about the extreme views throughout his party,” said NDP MLA Ravi Parmar.
Previously, Rustad’s candidate in Courtenay-Comox Damon Scrase opposed a woman’s right to choose and called gay people “perverts” and “groomers”.
Rustad refused to make clear that was wrong, instead saying, “I have no comment further with regards to what he actually said.”
Rustad’s Vancouver-Point Grey candidate Paul Ratchford attacked Elenore Sturko as a “woke lesbian” and a “groomer” and refused to publicly apologize.
Rustad dismissed it, saying “These things sort of happen during by-elections.”
BC NDP MLA Ravi Parmar: “It’s alarming that in a John Rustad government, MLAs with these extreme views could be cabinet ministers. This puts hard won rights like reproductive healthcare and LGBTQ+ protections at risk. British Columbians deserve to know how many more candidates in John Rustad’s Conservative Party hold extreme homophobic, anti-choice, anti-science positions.”
