The Conservative Party of BC’s leader, John Rustad, is being called out by his opponents for making statements that go against his own policies and for having a controversial position regarding vaccines.
In a video circulating on social media, Rustad says that he regrets getting the “so-called vaccine” and believes that Dr. Bonnie Henry, the Province’s Chief Medical Officer was more interested in “population control” than preventing the spread of COVID-19.
This video was taken in July of this year while Rustad was meeting with an anti-vaccination group, according to the BC NDP.
In July of this year, John Rustad met with an anti-vax group that is suing Dr. Bonnie Henry.
He said he regrets getting “the so-called vaccine” and accuses Dr. Henry of using it for “control on the population.” pic.twitter.com/m2h3IHAyK0
— BC NDP (@bcndp) September 23, 2024
Premier David Eby made a statement following the video surfacing in which he stood up for Dr. Henry, and questioned what Rustad would do should another outbreak occur if he was in power.
“And we’ve got John Rustad, who says that these are ‘so-called’ vaccines and is promoting the idea that vaccines don’t work when in fact, the COVID vaccines saved so many lives in this province,” said Premier Eby. “And a lot of the global economy reopened way earlier than it would have otherwise.”
“How will he react to a measles outbreak in British Columbia? What will he say? Will he encourage people to get vaccinated? Measles kills kids. So these are not minor considerations. This is really important for British Columbians to know. He says one thing in a meeting, when he thinks it won’t get out. Then he says another in public,” Eby continued.
To this, Rustad tweeted, “All kids in BC should get vaccinated for measles. No kids in BC should be given free crackpipes.”
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In addition to this controversial statement regarding scientifically proven vaccines, Rustad also announced that if he and his party were to win the upcoming election, he would close all safe consumption sites.
According to the BC NDP, just last week Rustad was speaking about how important these sites were to saving lives.
“I was talking with one individual who said he OD’d in a safe injection site six times before he finally got into treatment,” Rustad said while addressing a Richmond Town Hall on September 15th.
“Now, thank God, he was able, when he OD’d, he was in a place where they could provide the support for him. If he wasn’t there, you know, he wouldn’t be alive today.”
This statement is being decried by the BC NDP as well as the BC Green Party.
“Another day, another flip flop, this time from John Rustad who just two weeks ago said he supported safe consumption sites and who was a minister in the BC Liberal government that funded them,” said BC Green leader Sonia Furstenau.
“In fact, he was sitting in the government Caucus when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Insite ‘saved lives and improved health without increasing the incidence of drug use and crime in the surrounding area.’”
She added that these sites are proven to save lives and that there is no one path to overcoming substance abuse.
“Harm reduction is a critical component of an evidence-based solution to the toxic drug crisis because it keeps people alive regardless of where they are at in their relationship to substance use, while also taking strain off our health care system by preventing the spread of disease and overuse of our emergency care system,” Furstenau continued.
So far, in 2024 alone, at least 1,365 have died from the toxic drug crisis. Since the public health emergency was declared in April 2016, at least 15,140 people have died from the crisis.
