In-depth analysis and coverage of B.C.'s political shakeup

BC conservative leader John rustad is making the rounds buily asserting his place as the primary Challenger to the NDP in this Falls provincial election it comes one day after BC United leader Kevin Falcon announced his party would suspend its election campaign and encourage people to back rustad Janella Hamilton joins us with more on what rustad is saying Janella Dan John rustad has been busy doing a swath of interviews after Wednesday's political bombshell he joined the cbc's Michelle Elliot on BC today in the past rustad has shared doubts on climate change science Michelle asked him where he stands now humans have contributed to climate change yes okay is it at a crisis level it is not at a crisis level there are many more things that I think are are far more important when people can't put food on the table that's a big issue and as a province quite frankly we should be concerned about that you've lost communities like Linton is that not a crisis uh it certainly is a big issue and it does need to be addressed and again I don't think government is doing a good job in terms of fighting fires but we have a premier today that believes that taxing people into poverty is going to change the weather and I'm sorry that is not right Janel rustad has also called for an end to the soi1 123 program in schools what does he say about that now Dan we did ask him that question and he says he's opposed to what he calls the sexualization of kids in schools and sexual orientation and gender identity materials being available for students there's pictures and books showing children having sex and that to me is just wrong where where where do you have evidence of this yes I do I've seen the books I've seen the the library stamps in the books in the schools where this information is available we've asked you for this evidence and your party has not sent it to us we can certainly show you that the sites that have all this information collected okay we would we would like to do that in order to be able to see the evidence that to back up your claim we read information in the legislature directly from a book from a school in library and we were called out and said that was unparliamentary rustad insists even as BC United suspends its campaign the conservatives have not changed their policies he says he and Falcon do agree that the province needs a change in government Dan Janella Hamilton reporting for us thank you Janella several be of United MLA say they feel politically a drift after leader Kevin Falcon announced the party was shut down its election campaign as Katie D Roa explains some of now decided not to seek reelection we were definitely surprised and felt a little bit abandoned Mike Bernier and his fellow BC United mlas are still reeling from the news that their party won't be running in the provincial election it comes a day after BC United leader Kevin Falcon announced his party's withdrawal from the campaign the BC conservatives are still deciding which BC United candidates they want to absorb and who who among their 83 candidates they're willing to ditch but already some veteran BC United incumbents say they can't support John rustad that includes Todd Stone the MLA for camloop South Thompson and Shirley Bond who represents Prince George velmont both announced they won't run again this is this is the preeminent challenge for John rustad to you know weed out of his party as many extreme views as he possibly can berer the MLA for Peace River South and former BC liberal cabinet Minister says he's considering running as an independent you know I didn't leave my party my party left me berer says BC United caucus members were blindsided only finding out about Falcon's decision shortly before his press conference with rustad BC United MLA Karin Kirkpatrick is furious with Falcon's unilateral call which she says leave Centrist voters without a political home we should be mourning the loss of the middle in this province and be very concerned about this us style politics where we swing to the left and then we swing to the right it's something Premier David eie also addressed saying moderate BC United candidates and supporters should turn to the NDP they're looking for a home right now they'll be deciding where to vote and I hope they look to the bcnp for his part rustad has denied that his party has extreme views he says his candidates come from across the political spectrum and the BC conservatives are ready to be the Big T party that can defeat the NDP Katie D roza CBC News Victoria now with just two months until election day slightly less in fact many BC United supporters are re-evaluating who they will vote for our John Hernandez visited a few writings to hear how constituents are digesting this big change it something quite incredible to happen in politics the streets are a buzz in the Vancouver Quil chenna writing this is where BC United leader Kevin Falcon is the MLA his decision to suspend the party's campaign in support of the BC cons conservatives caught a lot of people here off guard I could not believe it uh big surprise um that's a that's a huge surprise longtime voter Terry Burns applauds the move I went oh my God uh you know he's backed away and probably he should have that's pretty brave for him but not everyone here is happy about losing the party they've supported for years well it doesn't surprise me but it makes it very difficult to make a choice now because I don't like either party a similar story for some voters in South sui White Rock a decades long stronghold for BC United previously named the BC liberals I'm kind of sad because I um am a liberal and uh you know they did a lot of good things when they were in power as Kevin Falcon now urges party supporters to vote conservative some analysts say BC United supporters could struggle to switch their allegiance particularly because of issues where the parties have clashed like gender politics and climate change some of those voters may stay home some of them may actually take another look at the NDP and so I think we're still very much in uh a near tossup at this point in Colona Center a writing also held by BC United supporters are hopeful the effort will Dethrone the NDP I think it's actually a really good thing for BC we need a change we need to shift there's lots of things that are happening in BC that is sad uh now that there's one uh hopefully there won't be a split vote and I will vote anybody but NDP a political shift that's enough to give NDP supporters pause I thought it was a dirty trick to try to Snuff out the NDP I'm a little bit concerned that the bcnp is not putting out enough media and not uh being loud enough the pressure now on both parties to win over voters Stuck in the Middle as election day inches closer John Hernandez CBC News Vancouver and we as we heard in Katie D Rose's piece the premier is encouraging disaffected voters to look to the NDP the premier spoke with Steven Quinn on cbc's the Early Edition in the morning if you look at the history of uh BC politics it's not a surprise to see a United uh right flank I guess the surprise uh really is that uh the unification was around a party and a leader who who doesn't believe that climate change is real it appears on podcasts like Jordan Peterson's who thinks that the problems in society started when women got access to birth control and that 5G cell phone towers uh are weapons of genocide I mean these are really bizarre views to unify around and I'm sure it was surprising to Kevin Falcon as well with the combined forces of BC United and the conservative party if you put their polling numbers together they are at least six points ahead of the NDP as it stand now how concerned are you about this election there are a lot of people who would have reported those pollsters they were voting BCU who would never in a million years support John rustad and the BC conservatives they're looking for a home right now they'll be deciding where to vote and I hope they look to the bcnd DP you know if literally just last week uh the BCU was handing out tinfoil hats uh to describe the positions of the BC conservative candidates Susanna D Silva shows us how the race is changing and what it all means for voters even in end of summer mode enjoying the food and the Sun Shine the announcement that flipped BC Politics on its head was top of mind oh wasn't that something hey it's never boring we certainly put the US in the back burner now for a couple of days I mean well it's disappointing that now we only have two choices so it's kind of bipolarized recent polls suggested about 10% of the decided voters in these crowds would have supported BC United it is a close race and so if the BC conservatives are able to get a big chunk of that 10% they might be able to pull ahead of the NDP but the tone of the political discourse May shake out the vote in unexpected ways right now the center has been abandoned and if you're looking at where voters stand right now the NDP might actually represent more of the center for a lot of those voters than do the BC conservatives and a leader who doesn't believe that climate change is real doesn't think we should be taking climate action already today BC's Premier Painting the conservatives as extreme while BC conservative leader John rustad called that misleading when we come out with our full platform and people see the things that we stand for I think people have a better sense of who we are a platform still to come along with the list of candidates this has been a really tough tough decision for me to make already two high-profile BC United mlas and former cabinet ministers have dropped out there's a lot of people where the jury's out they're going to actually um watch and listen and and engage and see what see what the BC conservatives actually um end up offering British Colombians with 7 weeks left not a lot of time to sort things out when it comes election that's when I open my newspaper and I search my candidates for the area that's best for my community no I'm just enjoying my Patty P I'll think about things that are of lesser importance tomorrow with Summer Fun ending the countdown to election day is on Susanna the Silva CBC News Vancouver Yes you heard right just 7 weeks until we hit election to NBC and the deadline for candidates to change party or declare themselves Independence is even closer September 28th joining us now is SFU political science senior lecturer sanj Jam Sanjay thanks for joining us BC conservative leader John rostad says his party will work with BC United leader Kevin faala to choose the best candidates for the ballot How likely is it though for the for the conservatives to offer Beast United candidates the opportunity to run I think it's going to be a riding uh riding by riding basis I mean it there are some candidates uh that have a fairly strong profile in their writings and I would argue that there's something to be gained for the BC conservatives to especially in some of the more urban ridings around Metro Vancouver um if you know if BC United candidates are willing to run now obviously there's logistical issues especially if a candidate is already nominated uh there's been speculation that maybe um they will offer the ability for those candidates to take up an open riding but again will those candidates want to potentially move their families you know deal with the riding they're not familiar with with lot lots of questions to be answered but I do think that there is um you know there is going to be some deep discussion because it's there is some value especially in those Urban writings for the BC conservers to consider doing that now we have heard Shirley Bond Todd Stone some BC United stalwarts uh not running uh Mike Bernier seems a bit undecided he has indicated he may choose to run as an independent do you expect to see more Independents uh I think more as a that's a I would expect to be maybe a handful I don't expect there to be a glut of hand of independent candidates uh given the way the polls have turned you know given uh the likelihood that many within you know will more will come in days that as we find out you know people more people will talk but the party despite the surprise that many I think expressed I think there is a genu a genuine feeling of believing that this probably is the better move uh for the center right uh NBC and so I don't think you're going to a glut of independent candidates because that would sort of defeat the purpose of what of what is going on right if you have you know vote splits with an independent candidate and a conser candidate you know that create the same problem so I don't think uh I I can't imagine that that many people going out and potentially you know sullying their name with the political community that they exist in uh to do that so I don't think you're going to see too many of them well Premier David D has said he's not surprised to see if we can use this phrase a United right flank but he's surprised to see Unity around what he called quote bizarre views citing rust Ed's previous comments on climate change and contraception how does that impact BC's Centrist voters do you think uh so I earlier today I was thinking about this very question I was having a different discussion and I I I think that obviously EB is playing is pulling out of the Playbook uh on the center left in Canada Trudeau has done the same thing during covid uh you know trying to highlight uh extremist views among candidates or even you know espoused by a leader in the past but the other side of the coin I mean you could really see um the BC this this sort of cooperation between the new parties could actually make uh the this new part so the BC conservatives this new formation uh more attractive to Centrist voters especially in urban areas because you could maybe see it as uh there's sort of you know a little more uh kind of boxed in uh in terms of the kinds of issues that they might take up uh given this right because of you know Kevin Falcon throwing a support behind the party probably came with some assurances about you know what would be the focus what would be you know the kind of rules around uh the party's messaging and so I again at this point we're speculating uh this just happened but I suspect you're going to see uh the BC conserves running a pretty tight ship uh going uh on forward and trying to avoid some of this more controversial issues sanj JM we appreciate your time and your expertise thanks again you're welcome now as we told you earlier John red was our guest on cbc's BC today and callers from around our Province had plenty of questions for the conservative leader is there room for folks in the party who may have disagreements with the NDP but believe in the importance of addressing the looming threat of climate change Bel that lgbtq citizens of all ages should be treated with dignity and respect or that Co doesn't come from 5G Towers has anything really changed with your party we've been actually working with Andrew Weaver the leader the former leader of the green party he's won a the Nobel Prize is part of this and he is very excited about working with us and our policies and our approach that we want to do around energy generation we've had many people from across the Spectrum political Spectrum join our party lots of people from the NDP for example who have said I've voted NDP for the last 40 years but I cannot vote for David eie and his destructive policies I'm coming over and joining the conservative party so we actually have a very broad tent in terms of it we have uh people you know who are gay who are bisexual you know our policies and approaches are are very open we used to be we have been too good at putting out fires and we need to go back to being too good at putting out fires and I hope that's part of your mandate in my area last year when there was wildfires um they we fought hard to contain the fires they got them contained um and then of course there was the fires down south and they had to reallocate Crews and that's fine the local Crews wanted to stay and fight the fire they wanted to stay and get the hotpots out and government stood them and said no you're not allowed to do that the winds picked up those fires jumped the guard and people lost buildings to me the way we are fighting fires in this province is wrong we need to be taking a very different approach it's been so ugly over the past few weeks and even year between your party and uh Kevin Falcon's party like how are you going to work together and put Eagles aside and get to work for everyday British Colombians I can tell you um politics can often be described as a blood sport I mean it is it can be vicious at times um you know you're you're in it you're in the fight until you're not in the fight so I mean I've worked with Kevin uh from 2005 to 2013 when he was in government I've talked with Kev numerous times when he was outside of government um and I'm not going to have any problem with working with him I don't hold any grudges against anybody including uh you know former colleagues uh from that party so I don't think there'll be any problem there there is going to be some that may not want to be part of organization I understand that um and that's that's the way politics can be but we are a very large organization and we're very welcoming for people right across the political Spectrum