British Columbia Conservative Party
Parti conservateur de la C.-B.
BC's right-of-centre opposition party. Founded 1903 (one of BC's oldest parties), but spent most of the late 20th century in single digits as the BC Liberals dominated the non-NDP space. The BC Liberals rebranded as BC United in 2023, then suspended the campaign in August 2024 endorsing the BC Conservatives, which produced a dramatic breakthrough at the October 19, 2024 provincial election: BC Conservatives went from one seat (their leader John Rustad's, won at a 2023 by-election after he was kicked out of BC Liberal caucus) to 41 seats and Official Opposition. The October 2024 election ended in a near-tie: BC NDP 47, BC Conservatives 44, Green 2 (later resolved with recounts and one floor crossing). Rustad's program emphasizes provincial fuel-tax cuts, repeal of the BC carbon tax, public-safety expansion.
Leader
John Rustad
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Positions on Issues
Climate & Environment
The BC Conservatives under John Rustad commit to scrapping British Columbia's consumer carbon tax (in force since 2008, the first in North America), ending the Zero-Emission Vehicle sales mandate (which requires 26 percent of new vehicle sales to be ZEV by 2026 and 100 percent by 2035), supporting expanded LNG export terminals on the north coast, and replacing the CleanBC plan with a technology-and-permitting approach.
Source ↗Cost of Living
The BC Conservatives under John Rustad campaigned in 2024 on eliminating BC's consumer carbon tax (saving an estimated $1,800 per family per year before the rebates), reducing the provincial gas tax by 15 cents per litre, capping ICBC auto-insurance rate increases at the rate of inflation, and ending the BC Employer Health Tax for businesses with fewer than 50 employees. They opposed the BC NDP's tax cuts targeted at low-income households as insufficient.
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