John Rustad

Rustad was born and raised in Prince George, British Columbia. His father worked in forestry, and his mother was a homemaker. He has two older brothers. Prior to provincial politics, he had worked in the forestry sector for two decades, founding a consulting firm named Western Geographic Information Systems Inc. in 1995. Between 2002 and 2005, he served as a trustee with School District 57 Prince George. == Political career ==

BC Liberals Rustad was first elected to the legislature in 2005 as a BC Liberal candidate, representing the riding of Prince George-Omineca. Following the riding's dissolution, he was re-elected in 2009 in the current Nechako Lakes riding. He retained his seat in the 2013 election and was appointed Minister of Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation by Premier Christy Clark. and added the role of Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations to his duties after Steve Thomson's election as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. Rustad continued in both ministerial roles until that July, when the Liberal minority government was defeated in a non-confidence motion. He was re-elected in 2020, and served as the Liberals' critic for Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations. he then sat in the legislature as an independent politician. Leader of the BC Conservatives (2023–2025) On February 16, 2023, Rustad joined the BC Conservative Party, giving the party representation in the legislature. On March 23, 2023, Rustad announced that he was running to be the leader of the BC Conservatives. He was acclaimed as the leader of the Conservatives on March 31, 2023, succeeding Trevor Bolin. On September 13, 2023, BC United MLA Bruce Banman crossed the floor to join the Conservatives. This gave the Conservatives the two MLAs necessary for official party status. Rustad led his party into the 2024 British Columbia general election as the principal opposition party following BC United's decision to suspend its campaign and endorse Rustad's party. The Conservatives won 44 seats, the party's best showing in over 70 years; the party hadn't won more than two seats in an election since 1953. On November 20, Rustad established his Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet, in which every Conservative MLA received a portfolio. In 2025, Rustad passed his leadership review with 70.66% support. On the cut-off day to vote in the leadership review, more than 2,000 memberships were purchased with the same three credit cards and from the same email domain. BC Conservative officials said that all suspicious memberships were cancelled. His leadership in the 43rd Parliament had been marked by internal party disputes, with the expulsions and departures of MLAs Dallas Brodie, Jordan Kealy, Tara Armstrong, Elenore Sturko, and Amelia Boultbee. In addition, Brodie and Armstrong formed a splinter party, named OneBC. In October 2025, the party's management committee passed a motion that called on Rustad to step down as leader; he declined to do so. Opinion polling Since Rustad became leader, the BC Conservatives have overtaken BC United (formerly the BC Liberals until 2023) as the second most popular party in the province and are competing with the BC NDP for most popular. An Abacus Data poll in December 2023 put the Conservatives' popular vote share at 26 percent, ahead of BC United at 17 percent but behind the BC NDP at 44 percent. Later in August 2024, two months before the provincial election, a Mainstreet Research poll placed the Conservatives' popular vote share at 39 percent, ahead of both BC United at 12 percent and the BC NDP at 36 percent. Resignation On December 3, 2025, 20 caucus members signed a letter calling for Rustad to resign his position as leader. The party's board of directors passed a resolution ousting him as leader, and appointed Surrey-White Rock MLA Trevor Halford as interim leader. In a statement, the party said that Rustad was too "professionally incapacitated" to continue as leader. However, in the immediate aftermath, five Conservative MLAs refused to acknowledge the board's decision and said that Rustad remained party leader, and Rustad himself rejected the board's decision and declared that he was still the leader of the party. and shortly thereafter announced that he had resigned, seeking to avoid what he described as a "civil war" within the party. During his resignation speech, he announced that he would not stand for re-election at the next election. == Political positions ==

Climate change Rustad's position on the validity of climate change science is unclear. In 2024, he claimed that "climate change is real" on the CBC show Power and Politics. In the same year, he also told the Globe and Mail editorial board that it is false that human beings emitting carbon dioxide causes climate change. Regardless of his belief in climate change, Rustad does not believe that any action should be taken at the provincial level, stating, “There is nothing we can do, as a province, to be able to address this.” He described the reform as "a very authoritarian approach." Public health In July 2024, Rustad has claimed that he regretted getting the COVID-19 vaccine due to a heart problem that he experienced shortly afterward, and that COVID-19 vaccine mandates were about "shaping opinion and control on the population". He has said that flu and COVID-19 vaccines need to be available for "vulnerable people". At the same online meeting hosted by anti-vaccine groups, Rustad said that he would be open to working with other jurisdictions for a "Nuremburg 2.0" event to look into prosecuting people responsible for the province's public health measures and vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic, referring to an idea popular in anti-vaccine groups inspired by both the Nuremberg trials and the Nuremberg Code. SOGI 123 Rustad proposed removing from schools a set of teaching materials known as SOGI 123 (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity) which according to CBC is a collection of "guides and resources that aim to help teachers address discrimination and bullying, create supportive and inclusive environments for 2SLGBTQ+ students and acknowledge varying genders and sexual orientations". On September 30, 2023, Rustad shared a post on social media that appeared to compare the teaching of sexuality and gender to the residential school system. Transgender identity In 2024, Rustad introduced the ''Fairness in Women and Girl's Sports Act'' as a private members bill. The bill would have required participants in publicly-funded sports teams to compete according to their biological sex. The bill was voted down in first reading. == Personal life ==

Rustad married his wife Kim in 1995. Kim is a cervical cancer survivor; as a result, they did not have children. == Electoral record ==