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Then-B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad during a news conference in Surrey, B.C., in October, 2024.ETHAN CAIRNS/The Canadian Press
Former British Columbia Conservative leader John Rustad says he has been invited to rejoin the party’s caucus, just days after he was expelled by Kerry-Lynne Findlay in the dying days of her own tenure as leader.
Findlay quit on Sunday, with Lorne Doerkson appointed interim leader of the Opposition, and Rustad says Doerkson has reached out to him by text message and asked him to return.
The development comes after the caucus of B.C.’s governing NDP met Sunday night to discuss a potential early election after Findlay’s resignation, raising the prospect of voters going to the polls while the Opposition has no fixed candidate to become premier.
Doerkson is prohibited by the Conservative constitution from seeking the party leadership on a permanent basis.
Rustad says there are “obviously lots of people” in B.C. who don’t know the Cariboo-Chilcotin legislator, but Doerkson is a “quality individual” and Rustad is happy to have him lead the party into an election if he wants.
Rustad says of speculation about the future of the Conservatives that people like former premiers Christy Clark and Gordon Campbell need to “let politics go,” and realize that “their time is over.”