Thursday October 10, 2024 | LANGFORD, BC
BC ELECTION CAMPAIGN DAY 20 of 28
BC Election 2024 news coverage by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Your 28-day voter’s guide for BC Election 2024
BC Conservative Leader John Rustad started his day in North Vancouver for an announcement about BC Ferries headed.
Then he headed over the water to Vancouver Island in the Greater Victoria area to hang out for short visits with some of his key candidates.
He headed to Esquimalt to rouse BC Conservative supporters with John Wilson (candidate for Esquimalt-Colwood), out to North Saanich where David Busch is the candidate for Saanich North and the Islands, and then and got to Langford by 5 pm to rouse BC Conservative supporters with Mike Harris (candidate for Langford-Highlands).
After Langford he headed to Oak Bay where the BC Conservative candidate is Stephen Andrew.
Rustad also introduced BC Conservative Juan de Fuca-Malahat candidate Marina Sapzozhkinov to the primarily Langfordian crowd; she came in from Cobble Hill to be at the Mike Harris event this evening.
All of this on Day 20 of the 28-day BC provincial election campaign, and the first day of Advance Voting.
Crowd-pleasers:
Rustad is leading the party with his eye on several issues that are finding resonance with voters who are in various ways frustrated with the BC NDP status quo (BC has had an NDP government since 2017).
He opened his remarks to an excited crowd with comments about improving BC Ferries, dealing with the drug crisis and emphasizing parental rights regarding their children’s health, and mentioning the ‘Colwood crawl’ traffic congestion issue (which never seems to go away even with Highway 1 improvements of recent years).
Rustad on the record:
In an exclusive interview with Island Social Trends this evening, Rustad said the BC Conservative momentum is “very good”.
“I’ve actually been very surprised at the numbers particularly on Vancouver Island. The strength that’s being built is quite something to see. There are many ridings that are in play now on Vancouver Island. So I think there’ll be some surprises here on October 19,” said Rustad in an interview after his remarks to the crowd.
He came to Langford to support the local candidate, and others in the Greater Victoria area. He says he is “supporting the teams that are out there, getting them fired up, especially since this is the first day of voting”.
“It’s about getting around and supporting our teams and doing the best we can for them,” said Rustad in a busy room.
“I’m really excited about having John Wilson run for us and Stephen Andrew is obviously very strong as well,” said Rustad. “And of course Mike has done such a great job here, taking a riding that was obviously very solid NDP and putting it on the map and giving us a shot at it,” he said.
“When I’m seeing the early results here today. People are turning out, they’re excited about the Conservative Party, it’s been really encouraging,” Rustad told Island Social Trends.
Party leaders can’t go to advance polling stations, but be plans to vote in his own riding on election day.
He didn’t hear anything particularly different from the Langford folks but he said “the energy is “it’s interesting to see the energy have and the excitement they’re having for this election”.
Parents and children’s drug use:
“So many people around the province are coming up to me you’re the only hope, you gotta do this,” said Rustad, referencing women voters who feel he may be able to change the tide with legislation that would allow parents to have a say in children’s treatment around drugs and overdose situations.
Of course that refers to the BC Infants Act that came in decades ago (c. mid-1960s) when health professionals pushed for ‘unwed mothers’ (as they were called at the time) to receive reproductive care without their parents’ consent as that was a time when parents would often not allow choice for their daughters. Some components of the Act go back to British law of 1917.
With that law still on the books (updated in various ways in 1996, 2008 and 2022), medical professionals follow ‘Consent of Minors’ guidelines. Health professionals and teachers are bound by law to not inform parents about medical treatment and care that their children might require or request. Several stories have been told in the media over recent years about teens who have died from drug overdoses without their parents being able to get them help. In other cases teens can get counselling at schools without the knowledge or consent of parents.
“It’s obviously a big burden in terms of that,” said Rustad, showing his recognition of what a big undertaking he will try to do. That work could be undertaken if the BC Conservatives form government, or could be tackled even if they form the Official Opposition in a minority government.
“The Infants Act is part of ‘Christian’s Law’ so parents can help their child through something like an addiction,” said Rustad. He adds that the whole project may bridge over into other Acts. “That’s one of the things we’ll check with lawyers in making sure that it’s done right,” said Rustad.
As for the term ‘involuntary care’, Rustad says he calls that ‘involuntary compassionate care’. He says there are “a few other places we’re going to look at for involuntary care”.
“If someone has OD’d and has been brought back to life, clearly they’re not making good decisions for their life. In those sort of situations they should try to come in. Of course it will be on a case by case basis and it will have to be medical professionals that have to make those recommendations,” said Rustad this evening. “But we need to make sure we have the facilities available for doing that.
He also mentioned looking at long-term care for people with brain injury from drug use and other causes. Island Health is already building one such facility in Langford (aiming to open in 2027).
But this is a good example of where the NDP doesn’t toot their own horn enough, and where Rustad is rushing in with simply-stated ideas that catch fire with voters who may just want to see change, or faster action. “We will look at that and expand,” says Rustad, about the upcoming Colwood facility.
Politically he is capitalizing on the momentum that brought him to Vancouver Island this evening.
He wants to turn Riverside into a “world class facility” in leading and treatment in long-term care with a variety of approaches including outdoors. He says federal support will be sought for that.
British Columbia is ground zero when it comes to drugs and overdoses, says Rustad, referencing stats about having more addicts per capita in BC than anywhere in North America. “And that is just wrong. Our approach with harm reduction, safe supply and decriminalization has not worked.”
Rustad is riding the wave of discontent among voters who have felt underserved or unheard for several years now under the BC NDP who for years have actually made good strides in health-care innovation (e.g. a mental health same-day service in Colwood, and also the 2027 long-term care facility for brain-injured as well as seniors).
The BC NDP has been doing solid work, but other than a long series of announcements over the years haven’t taken time to step back and restrategize their messaging to showcase their achievements on behalf of a broad range of people. This is the crack in the armor that Rustad and his robust candidates are capitalizing on in October 2024.
“We want to make sure we’re out and doing everything we can to support our candidates and to turn the province blue.
Tuesday night’s televised debate:
What was John Rustad’s take on the 90-minute October 8 televised debate?
“Sonia does what Sonia does. It was good to see her true to who she is,” said Rustad. “But David Eby was actually running against himself. The positions that he took and the things that he was talking about — I don’t think he quite realizes that he’s the source of the problems,” said Rustad. “Most of the nice he spent attacking me,” said Rustad.
Of course, Eby has said many times this year that the problems faced in BC are not just specific to this province, and that global economic and sudden severe inflation have been driving a lot of the issues that people have been facing in BC since the pandemic.
The attack mode strategy has been adopted wholesale by the BC NDP campaign in this election — it’s a traditional campaigning style but may have worn its welcome on attentive voters who need serious attention given to critical issues (e.g. health-care, housing, substance use crisis, cost of living, jobs, etc).
Who was there:
Plenty of Langford business and community leadership folks were there tonight including Elena Lawson (who ran for BC United in the 2023 Langford-Juan de Fuca by-election in June 2023), West Shore Chamber of Commerce vice-president Kelly Darwin, former Langford councillor Matt Sahlstrom, former Sooke School Trustee Wendy Hobbs, Mike Wignall, and others. Also attending in the audience was Colwood Councillor Ian Ward.
Keeping it all organized was the Harris Team campaign manager Jeff Fiddler.
Rustad is travelling with a media handler. A freelance photographer has been hired by the BC Conservative party to cover events as well.
Tonight Island Social Trends and CHEK-TV were the only two professional media who appeared to be there to cover the event.
===== RELATED:
- Three-way live televised BC Leaders debate on Oct 8 (October 8, 2024)
- BC NDP will attract independent voters if they freshen-up their campaign approach (October 3, 2024)
- Six days of Advance Voting in BC (October 3, 2024)
- NEWS SECTIONS: BC ELECTION 2024 NEWS | POLITICS | 28-DAY BC ELECTION CAMPAIGN ITINERARY CALENDAR
===== ABOUT THE WRITER:
Island Social Trends Editor Mary P Brooke has been covering BC political news since 2014, starting in the west shore area and expanding from there.
In 2020 IslandSocialTrends.ca was launched. Since then she has been reporting alongside the BC Legislative Press Gallery, providing insights on provincial-level news that impacts individuals, households, business and communities.
Ms Brooke publishes IslandSocialTrends.ca online from Langford, BC. Her previous print publications are permanently archived at the Sooke Region Museum: MapleLine Magazine (quarterly 2008-2010), Sooke Voice News (weekly 2011-2013), and West Shore Voice News (2014-2020). She holds a Certificate in Public Relations (U of R), with crisis management and mass media as a key focus. Back in 1981 she won the McGeachy Prize in Journalism (U of S). In Regina in the early 1980s she launched a business community newspaper. In the early 1990s in Victoria she wrote the 36-week curriculum called Writing for Business and Journalism.
In 2022 Ms Brooke ran for school trustee in The west shore side of Sooke School District 62. In 2023 she was nominated for a Jack Webster Foundation journalism award for contributing to her community through journalist. With her B.Sc.(U of S) in nutrition in her back pocket, in 2024 she launched the Urban Food Resilience Initiatives Society as a service to community.