The days leading up to John Rustad’s resignation played out like a dramatic soap opera of secret meetings, legal gymnastics and even a gingerbread making competition.
The climax came Wednesday with the party announcing Rustad’s removal, and the denouement came Thursday, when an at times emotional Rustad bid his job as leader of the Conservative Party of British Columbia farewell.
That followed an unprecedented 24 hours where there appeared to be two leaders of the B.C. Conservatives: Surrey-White Rock MLA Trevor Halford, who had been appointed by the party’s board of directors after being endorsed by a majority of caucus, and a defiant Rustad who insisted the party had no legal mechanism to force him out.
So how did we get here? And what’s next for the party that forced the collapse of the once-powerful B.C. Liberals?
John Rustad resigns as B.C. Conservative Party leader after day of drama
CBC News spoke to five MLAs and two senior members of the B.C. Conservative Party leadership with direct knowledge of the final hours of Rustad’s leadership.
The MLAs include both opponents and supporters of Rustad. They agreed to speak to CBC News on background about what they witnessed.
Rustad had been facing an internal party revolt for months. MLAs who spoke to CBC News say it was a constant drip, drip, drip of bad news under Rustad’s leadership, with five MLAs quitting or fired since the B.C. Conservatives became the Official Opposition.
The caucus was fed up and morale was at an all-time low, as Rustad threatened to expel any MLAs not loyal to him. Riding association presidents and party members were complaining that fundraising had stalled.
John Rustad faces renewed calls to resign, after another MLA defects
Each of the five MLAs told CBC News that Rustad and a few key loyalists had been, for months, using technicalities to block MLAs from voting on his leadership during caucus meetings.
The fireworks were set to go off at a caucus meeting Tuesday night where a majority of MLAs had resolved to force a vote on Rustad’s leadership.
The MLAs who opposed Rustad told CBC News they turned up to find the meeting was actually a team-building exercise where they would take part in a gingerbread-making contest.
Fed up, they said most MLAs left in protest.
B.C. Conservative Party says Rustad is out as leader after he refuses to quit | Power & Politics
The MLAs opposed to Rustad and senior party officials told CBC News that event kicked off a hurried plan — with the help of the board of directors, the majority of whom had already urged Rustad to resign in a letter in October.
They drafted a legal letter, signed by 20 MLAs, expressing that they had lost confidence in Rustad’s leadership.
Rustad, however, was undeterred. He spoke to reporters at 10:45 a.m. PT and insisted he wasn’t going anywhere.
It was the same approach he had used twice before, when the board letter and then a letter from 30 riding association members asked him to go, citing “chaos under his leadership” and sagging fundraising efforts.
What happened next is somewhat in dispute. All five MLAs agree there was a vote in the caucus office without Rustad present, where the majority of the 39-member caucus voted they had lost confidence in Rustad’s leadership and endorsed Trevor Halford as interim leader.
The MLAs have differing versions of how the vote was carried out and how many MLAs voted.
A profile of Trevor Halford, the interim leader of the B.C. Conservative Party
Ultimately, the party released a statement that said Rustad had been removed as leader and was “professionally incapacitated.”
The party executives admit it’s a creative interpretation of the Conservatives’ constitution — which states a leader can only be removed by resignation, death, incapacitation or failing to achieve 50 per cent support in a leadership review.
Rustad received around 71 per cent support in a leadership review that wrapped up in September. But it was a result plagued by low voter turnout and allegations of fraudulent membership signups.
‘No perfect caucus’: Halford on division within the B.C. Conservative Party
Not all MLAs were happy with the way the non-confidence vote went down.
Deputy caucus whip Reann Gasper said the process was “out of order” and she, caucus chair Jody Toor and Kristina Loewen insisted that Rustad was still the leader.
In a scrum at 2 p.m., Rustad said that “I’m currently still the leader of the party. Nothing has changed.”
Reacting to the professional incapacitation charge, Rustad said on social media: “Give me a break.”
Party executives admit the approach was a risk, but they didn’t think Rustad would have the gumption to go to court to challenge it.
Rustad also forced the fall legislative session to wrap a day early, in the hope he could hunker down and stem the brewing revolt over Christmas.
He told Speaker Raj Chouhan that Conservative MLA Steve Kooner would be wrapping up debate on his private member’s bill three hours early.
That led the governing NDP to cut off debate on its own bills, approve them through Royal Assent and adjourn the legislature.
Rustad, Conservative MLAs and staffers left the legislature and headed to Victoria’s Union Club for the caucus Christmas party. Rustad gave a speech, cracked jokes and appeared unfazed by the day’s drama, smiling for photos with some MLAs at a photo booth.
But by Thursday morning the mood had changed. Rustad informed those close to him of his decision and changed his social media bio from B.C. Conservative leader to MLA for Nechako Lakes.
He summoned reporters to the blue curtain in the Legislature at 9 a.m. and spoke alone.
He was wearing his signature navy blue tie, light blue shirt and Conservative pin — a change from the festive red-and-white snowman tie he sported the day before.
“I am stepping down as leader of the Conservative Party of British Columbia.”
Watch in full: John Rustad’s resignation as B.C. Conservative Party Leader
He said he made the decision after talking to his wife and key supporters. Even though they told him to keep fighting, he said it would create a “civil war” within the party which is not in the interest of British Columbians.
Just over an hour after Rustad spoke, two dozen MLAs gathered in the same spot, the mood jubilant. Some broke out into spontaneous singing of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”
They clapped as Halford approached and spoke to reporters.
“I’m feeling very very united,” Halford said.
Some described it as a feeling of catharsis.
B.C. Conservative Interim Leader Trevor Halford speaks following John Rustad’s resignation
However, not all MLAs are convinced the chaos is behind them.
Leadership races can be notoriously tumultuous, especially as several MLAs are expected to run — including Peter Milobar, Gavin Dew, Harman Bhangu and Elenore Sturko.
Conservative Party President Aisha Estey says it’s the only way “remedy those fractures that we’ve already seen.”
Rustad will stay on as a Conservative MLA and says he will support whomever is chosen as leader.
On Thursday afternoon, hours after his news conference, Rustad came into the press gallery and regaled reporters with stories of wild encounters with otters, wolves, eagles and, once, a moose.
He said he was snowshoeing through the bush and his cough startled a fully-grown moose. It began to charge at him. Rustad, armed with an axe, stood his ground.
Just before it reached him, the moose stopped, snorted and retreated.
“Politics is nothing compared to that,” he said.
On Thursday evening, the party notified its supporters it had just marked a “record breaking one day fundraising” number since the election.
The new leader is set to be chosen within the next six months.
