Image Credit: CFJC Today

By James Peters

Two and Out

PETERS: Head-scratching fringe ideas still linger in ‘common sense’ BC Conservative platform

Jul 5, 2024 | 12:30 PM

ONE OF THE REASONS the BC Conservative party never gained much traction in the past few decades is because it served its smaller government, lower taxes bonafides with a side of fringe lunacy.

Voters never knew whether they were voting for the candidate who would get rid of ICBC or the candidate who was passionate about investigating chemtrails. Sometimes both.

As the party now rises in profile to the point where it has a realistic shot to at least serve as the official opposition in the next sitting, it is clear there are still bits and pieces of that element within the party, trying to have their voices heard.

John Rustad’s Conservatives have this chance at power largely based on the popularity of the name and its association with a surging federal Conservative brand, but also because they offer an economic alternative to the governing NDP.

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If Rustad stuck with that message alone, his party would be well positioned. However, every once in a while he will sneak in a line that raises eyebrows and hearkens back to that more fringe party.

For example, Rustad will repeatedly assert that he will fire Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry if he is premier.

More than four years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, the number of people who still hold a grudge against Dr. Henry for her public health orders has dwindled to nearly zero, so it’s unclear exactly what base the Conservative leader is playing to by threatening her job.

On current health policy such as decriminalization of hard drugs and safer supply, Henry’s work does not have the same force. Those policies are functions of the NDP government, from which Henry sits at arms length.

And what about Rustad’s insistence that his party will remove Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity materials from schools? Once again, this is little more than a dog whistle meant to signal the very few for whom this is an election priority.

Most voters are worried about affordability, safety and health care.

Is anyone going to vote one way or another on the issue of restoring and re-erecting statues of colonizers? Yet there it is, in the ‘Culture and Freedom’ section of the Conservative platform.

All Rustad’s Conservatives have to do at this point is not mess up and they are poised to make massive gains in the fall election.

The best way for them to mess up, though, is to let fringe candidates and ideas distract from the right-of-centre principles that will be far more appealing to a broad swath of B.C. voters.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.