Skip to main content

“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” ~~ John G. Diefenbaker

KRUGGEL: I did not see that coming ... Rustad kicks out Sturko


I've followed, studied, and commented on politics for decades. I've been at this a very long time. I'm rarely surprised.

Elenore Sturko was one of the MLAs in the BC Conservative caucus that tried to bridge the socially moderate BC Liberal wing of the party to the more fiscally conservative BC Conservative wing of the party. She was and still is an outspoken MLA and here's the thing: she's almost always right. She gives the party a very good public image.

Yesterday party leader John Rustad won his leadership review with just over 70% support. Normally a leader wants 70% as a bare minimum with an eye to for 80%. But 70% will suffice.

You may remember a couple of weeks ago when the Ontario Liberal leader resigned after receiving around 65% of the vote in her leadership review.

Rustad came off that win and then kicked Sturko out of caucus. This was a unilateral decision by him. He claimed she as trying to undermine his leadership.

Why is this so surprising?

Well it is surprising because Rustad just had a big public win. His leadership was secure. He did not need to go after anyone and rock the boat. In fact, focusing on the NDP with his caucus behind him would have looked like a party that had its proverbial crap together.

Instead, he acted rather petty and now looks like a vindictive small man in public going after his perceived enemies rather than a big man taking the high road.

He acted like Donald Trump when he could have acted like Brian Mulroney or Jean Chretien. The latter two made their leadership rivals their top ministers. Both Michael Wilson and Paul Martin were made the Finance Ministers under Mulroney and Chretien respectively. That served to unify their parties under their leadership with their rivals given top spots in cabinet.

Rustad should have elevated Sturko if she was the problem he says she was. That would have brought her closer into the fold and those that are looking to her would have followed.

I'm not saying anything new here. That's Parliamentary Politics 101. It is how diplomats build alliances. That is how you build a movement. You make the tent bigger. You don't make it smaller.

A long time lesson in Canadian politics is that you are okay to kick out extremists but you never, ever kick out a moderate.

This is a huge misstep by John Rustad. He's done some real damage to this public profile and I don't think he can fix this one.
 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Budget 2027: After a Decade of Decline, NDP Budget Delivers an Assault on Seniors, Working Families, and Small Businesses

Peter Milobar, BC Conservative Finance Critic, condemned the NDP government’s latest budget as the result of a decade of decline that has left British Columbians broke, unsafe, and paying more for less.   “After ten years of NDP mismanagement, this budget is an assault on seniors, working families, and the small businesses that drive our economy,” said Milobar. “The NDP have turned their back on the people working hardest to make ends meet and the seniors who built this province.” Milobar pointed to a new $1.1 billion annual income tax increase and warned that the government is piling new costs onto households already struggling with affordability.   “This government keeps asking British Columbians for more, while delivering less,” Milobar said. “The question people are asking is simple: Where has all the money gone?” Milobar noted that BC has gone from a surplus in the first year of NDP government to a projected deficit of more than $13 billion this year, while prov...
Post a Comment
Read more

WARD STAMER -- Those are REAL forestry numbers, not just made-up numbers

The following is a condensed version of remarks Kamloops – North Thompson MLA Ward Stamer’s made, regarding Forestry, in the BC Legislature, on Tuesday afternoon (02/24/2026)   Let’s talk a little bit, when we talk about Budget 2026, about the forest industry, which is near and dear to my heart. Forestry remains one of British Columbia’s foundational industries. It’s a pillar that built this province. Entire communities depend upon it. Interior towns, northern communities, Vancouver Island regions, the Kootenays, the Lower Mainland, with manufacturing facilities in Surrey and Maple Ridge, just to name a few — everywhere in BC is touched by forestry. One word that was not mentioned in Budget 2026 was forestry. That’s a shame, an incredible shame. It wasn’t an oversight – it was intentional. This government has driven forestry into the ground .... INTO THE GROUND! We can talk a little bit about some of the initiatives that this government has brought forth, to try to resurrect ...
Post a Comment
Read more

FORSETH -- Before anyone gets excited about one poll showing a candidate with a 25 percent lead, and 44 percent support overall, let’s give it a few more weeks

Is this based in reality -- how accurate are the numbers? In the past couple of weeks a couple of candidates, for the leadership of the BC Conservative Party, have been presenting polling results that they lead the pack – one even going so far as to say they have a lock on 44% of those who will be voting, and a twenty-five percent lead over the individual ranked second. I am going to say that this one, from Kerry-Lynne Findlay, is highly suspect. First of all the company conducting the poll, ERG National Research, is not a Member of Industry Bodies (the Canadian Research Insights Council), meaning they do not adhere to established industry standards for research, such as transparency, privacy, and methodological rigor. AI Overview states that ... based on alerts from the Canadian Research Insights Council (CRIC) and reports, ERG National Research should be treated with extreme caution regarding its reliability, and legitimacy, in conducting political polling. Before I even read this in...
Post a Comment
Read more

Labels

Show more