BC Conservative Leader John Rustad pushes back on tone of campaign

Taking his closing pitch to a battleground riding in Nanaimo, BC Conservative Leader John Rustad touted health-care promises and commented on the tone of the campaign Wednesday.

The party is pledging to build a new patient tower with a catheterization lab for heart disease patients.

“Nanaimo is ready for change," Rustad said. "Nanaimo is a community that’s going to be very important, both in terms of this next election, but also this province’s future."

When asked about the tone of the campaign – which has included near-daily attacks from the NDP over candidate quality and the consequences that party says will come from the Conservatives' policy proposals – Rustad pushed back.

“David Eby cannot defend what he’s been doing, so he has been out basically just lying the entire campaign,” said Rustad Wednesday.

“I’ve actually never seen this level of lying from an opposition.”

In recent days, Rustad has been dogged by questions about his candidate in Surrey South, Brent Chapman, whose past online offensive comments about Muslims and those seemingly questioning the veracity of mass shootings sparked a firestorm.

Fellow Surrey BC Conservative candidate Elenore Sturko weighed in Tuesday about controversial remarks made by candidates in her party, including Chapman.

“I’ve been disappointed to see the comments that have made. You know, they certainly don’t represent my personal values or beliefs,” she said on Tuesday.

“I know that they do not represent the beliefs of my party overall – and I think it does reflect on all of us when things are said – especially things that are divisive.”

And despite a steady stream of policy announcements – including promises to add to health-care spending – Rustad has been doing damage control at various news conferences.

“I think the issue of candidate quality has been the Conservative candidates' Achilles heal,” said David Black, a professor at Royal Roads University.

“We have seen a drop in the Conservatives' momentum and advantage to the NDP."