Rustad calls for “back to basics” government during meet and greet at Lido Theatre

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — MLA candidate Jordan Kealy and B.C.’s Conservative Party leader John Rustad held a ‘meet and greet’ at the Lido Theatre in Fort St. John to discuss the serious issues affecting British Columbians. 

During the event on Monday night, Rustad unrolled the BC Conservative Party Platform for 2024 and spoke on various topics including the carbon tax, healthcare, crime and more. 

“We want to get back to the basics. We want to get back to just common sense, fighting for the average person,” said Rustad. 

Rustad says the healthcare system is in a crisis and noted the emergency room diversions in northeast B.C. and other regions across the province.

“It’s on the verge of collapse. More money is not going to solve the problem. The system itself is broken. We need to be looking at a different system.”

According to Rustad he is looking at European countries which have universal health care and single-payer models.

The Conservative Party also wants to increase the incentive models for bringing healthcare professionals to the province with “purchasing training” and five year agreements to serve in underserved communities.  

According to Rustad, the provincial GDP was 2.5 per cent before the NDP Party came to power, and since then, it has dropped to 1.5 per cent. The conservative party leader predicts that, partly because of the CleanBC Government plan, it will drop to 0.4 per cent by 2030. 

“That is a measure of our quality of life, a measure of the ability to be able to put food on the table, and pay your rent,” said Rustad.

“It is the measure of how British Columbia performs and how we can expect a future, and it is going down under the NDP. It is completely unacceptable.” 

He also says the NDP are running the largest deficits in the province’s history.

“Close to 10 per cent of our budget today is a deficit we’re borrowing from the future to pay the credit card bills.”

Rustads proposed solutions include a “a single project, a single permit” method to remove layers of permitting and bureaucracy. 

“It’s a little crude, I apologize for this, but we’re just going to be focused on getting shit done.”

After his speech Rustad and Kealy took a variety of questions from the audience. Rustad was asked about the Northern Health audit, organized crime and other issues.  

Rustad said a major issue is that less than 1 per cent of containers imported to the province are checked, allowing illegal drugs to come in. 

“So to deal with organized crime. I need you guys to vote conservative on October 19th so we can get rid of those guys,” Rustad joked. 

In regards to First Nations relations Rustad said he would repeal DRIPA, saying the act has become very divisive and will be focusing on economic reconciliation to advance First Nations development. 

“It’s great [when it is] government to government, but it is creating divisions people to people, and that is not reconciliation,” said Rustad. 

Kealy responded to the news of hospitals experiencing 317 hours of hospital closures saying it is “horrible.”

“We’ve got the regional directors trying to get other regions just to get this province to listen, and they don’t want it,” said Kealy. 

“They don’t care. And I personally, I do care if somebody is stuck in front of the hospital and the emergency is closed.”

The election will be happening on October 19th, 2024.