By Harinder Mahil

Many political pundits are wondering whether John Rustad can continue to be the leader of the Conservative Party of BC as the party’s management committee has asked him to resign immediately.

The letter from the management committee was sent to him two days after Amelia Boultbee, MLA for Penticton-Summerland, quit the B.C. Conservative caucus to sit as an independent.

“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.”

“The current and sitting members of the management committee of the board of directors cease to have confidence in your leadership. We ask that you immediately step down as leader,” the letter continues.

This must be devastating to John Rustad.

He has responded to the letter by advising reporters that he will not resign as leader. He stated that the letter was an “internal matter within the party” and he plans to “have an opportunity to speak with the management committee.”

“I believe strongly in democracy, they’ve given me a mandate to carry forward. There are some people clearly who don’t believe in democracy…” said Rustad.

Let us look at the mandate he received from the Party members. According to various reports, the party has about 9,000 members. He received 71 percent of the mandate from the 1268 members who voted during the leadership review. This means he received about 900 votes out of a membership of 9,000. I wouldn’t call it a strong endorsement.

I make note of three recent incidents involving John Rustad. The first one concerns Amelia Boultbee leaving the Conservative caucus to sit as an independent. She said during a press conference, “He has invited me to ‘get the F out’ if I don’t like it, and I’ve taken him up on that offer.” This is not the kind of language a leader should use towards an MLA or anyone else.

The second one involves a comment by Rustad about Amelia Boultbee’s health.  When reporters asked about her departure, he said staff were concerned that Boultbee had been “in tears” and “very confused.” This is in reference to her mental health. Again, it is not the sort of statement a leader should make about his own MLA’s.

The third one involves Conservative caucus leadership searching MLAs’ phones at a caucus meeting after details of a push for a vote on Rustad’s leadership was leaked to the media. This shows that he does not trust his own MLA’s. If he does not trust them, why would they trust him as their leader?

What happens now is indeed a private issue to be resolved by the Party. The issue for the Party is what has gone wrong since the election. The Conservatives came close to winning the election with 44 MLAs elected. Since then, they have lost five MLAs who either quit the caucus or were asked to leave. This is not a good situation for any leader.

This is good news for the government benches. I am sure the NDP MLAs love the turmoil going on with the opposition and would like to see John Rustand continue as leader of the Conservative Party.

Harinder Mahil is a human rights activist and is secretary of Dr. Hari Sharma Foundation.