Conservative Leader John Rustad delivers a speech during a campaign rally in Nanaimo, B.C., on Wednesday, October 16, 2024.CHAD HIPOLITO/The Canadian Press
British Columbia’s Conservatives have unveiled a policy platform that softens some of the party’s most divisive language and positions, striking a more conciliatory tone just ahead of Saturday’s election.
For much of the campaign, Conservative Leader John Rustad and his candidates have employed often contentious rhetoric. But the 114-page platform document – released Tuesday, after hundreds of thousands of people had already cast their ballots in advance voting – reflects a strategic shift by the party to appeal to a broader electorate, political observers say.
On drug policy, for example, the Conservatives in a September news release said they would “immediately shut down all government-sanctioned drug dens,” borrowing language from federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. In the platform, however, this has changed to two promises to “hold overdose prevention sites accountable” and “make every safe consumption site a meaningful gateway to treatment.”
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For education, a plan to remove all classroom material “that instills guilt based on ethnicity, nationality or religion,” as described in an initial news release on Sunday, has been replaced in the platform with language pledging to uplift all kids by ensuring the “ideological neutrality” of classroom materials.
On Indigenous relations, Mr. Rustad told The Globe and Mail in May that he would repeal the provincial Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act and instead sign business deals with individual First Nations. But in the platform, the commitment to repeal the DRIPA is characterized as honouring the international United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which the provincial legislation enshrines in B.C. law, as it was intended.
“Our government will work in partnership with First Nations to develop new legislation that advances, not stalls, economic reconciliation and Indigenous autonomy,” the platform says.
There is little reference in the platform to climate change, the issue that Mr. Rustad maintains is not a crisis and that got him ejected two years ago from the BC Liberal Party (now rebranded as BC United). The word “climate” appears just three times in the document, all in reference to agriculture.
Richard Johnston, a professor emeritus in the political science department at the University of B.C., said it appears that the party is striving to establish a more credible and responsible image by moving away from the provocative rhetoric.
“There may be a sub rosa deployment of the old language, but the public stance has to be of a party that is serious,” he said in an e-mail. “The party should still be anxious about social-media postings by its candidates and supporters.”
Lindsay Meredith, a professor emeritus in marketing strategy at Simon Fraser University, noted the numerous references in the platform linking BC NDP Leader David Eby to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The latter has been shown in polling to be sinking in popularity, and the provincial Conservatives are seeking to position Mr. Eby as the same, particularly on polarizing issues such as drug policy, he said.
However, Prof. Meredith said that, while Mr. Rustad has benefited from the rising popularity of Mr. Poilievre and the federal Conservative brand, he must also be careful to maintain appropriate distance.
“Rustad must be getting some evidence from polling that he doesn’t want to be seen too closely as holding hands with Poilievre, as being a down-home, roughneck MAGA type,” Prof. Meredith said in an interview.
“So now you see Rustad go back and clean up his documents to get rid of some of the inflammatory language. We don’t want to talk about junkie kids and drug dens; we want to clean up the language and make things a little more sophisticated.”
More than 181,000 people voted on Tuesday, breaking a record set on the first day of voting last week. In total, 778,000 people had already cast their ballots ahead of Wednesday’s final day of advance voting, according to Elections BC.