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John Rustad (born August 18, 1963) is a Canadian politician who has served as the leader of the Opposition in British Columbia since 2024 and as the leader of the Conservative Party of British Columbia since 2023. He has served as the member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for Nechako Lakes since 2009. John Rustad Official Website A former BC Liberal before his expulsion from caucus in 2022, he was first elected to the Legislative Assembly in 2005, representing Prince George–Omineca.Rustad making another effort to sit as school board trustee: Final Prince George Citizen Prince 27 Sep 2002: 3. He served in Premier Christy Clark's cabinet as Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation, and Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations.
He retained his seat in the 2013 election and was appointed Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation by Premier Christy Clark. He kept his cabinet post following his re-election in 2017, and added the role of Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations to his duties after Steve Thomson's election as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. Rustad continued in both ministerial roles until that July, when the Liberal minority government was defeated in a non-confidence motion.
He was re-elected in 2020, and served as the Liberals' critic for Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations. After suggesting online that carbon dioxide emissions were not contributing to climate change, Rustad was removed from the Liberal caucus by leader Kevin Falcon on August 18, 2022; he then sat in the legislature as an independent politician.
On March 23, 2023, Rustad announced that he was running to be the leader of the BC Conservatives. He was acclaimed as the leader of the Conservatives on March 31, 2023, succeeding Trevor Bolin.
On September 13, 2023, BC United MLA Bruce Banman crossed the floor to join the Conservatives. This gave the Conservatives the two MLAs necessary for official party status.
Rustad led his party into the 2024 British Columbia general election as the principal opposition party following BC United's decision to suspend its campaign and endorse Rustad's party. The Conservatives won 44 seats, the party's best showing in over 70 years; the party hadn't won more than two seats in an election since 1953. On November 20, Rustad established his Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet, in which every Conservative MLA received a portfolio.
Rustad has expressed concerns about rent control; however, in 2024, he said that his party did not intend to touch rent control.
On September 30, 2023, Rustad shared a post on social media that appeared to compare the teaching of sexuality and gender to the residential school system.
At the same online meeting hosted by anti-vaccine groups, Rustad said that he would be open to working with other jurisdictions for a "Nuremburg 2.0" event to look into prosecuting people responsible for the province's public health measures and vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic, referring to an idea popular in anti-vaccine groups inspired by both the Nuremberg trials and the Nuremberg Code. After reporting on the comments surfaced in October 2024, Rustad apologized and said that it was wrong to compare public health measures and Nazi German crimes.
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