Bug-eating remarks from B.C. Conservative leader raise eyebrows

Comments from B.C. Conservative leader John Rustad suggesting children could be expected to "eat bugs" as a means of combatting climate change have drawn mockery from his main political rival.

Rustad made the remarks at last year's We Unify conference in Victoria, where he also questioned whether the government should be attempting to address warming global temperatures at either the provincial or federal level.

"We're not even a rounding error in terms of world emissions. There's absolutely nothing we can do," Rustad told the crowd during his keynote address. "There's absolutely nothing we can do as a country."

At one point, Rustad pointed to the opening of an Ontario factory that produces cricket-based protein – considered an environmentally friendly alternative to cows and other meat sources, but largely used as pet food – as a sign that efforts to confront climate change are going too far.

"This is what they think is the solution," he said. "Stopping cows from farting and belching is not going to change the weather, but I tell you what it will do – it'll destroy our quality of life."

"We should not be expecting our kids to eat bugs," he later added.

Aspire Food Group opened a cricket protein factory in London, Ont., in 2022 that’s capable of producing millions of kilograms of what’s described as a flavourless, odourless powder that can be used in food products. The company had previously opened a similar facility in Texas.

Some people currently do eat products with bug protein – by choice – and the practice is supported by a number of researchers, including at the University of British Columbia.  

The B.C. NDP highlighted Rustad's comments in a news release Wednesday, accusing the Conservative leader of "echoing a bizarre conspiracy theory.”

According to the Canadian Institute for Far-Right Studies, concerns about children being made to eat bugs have been around for years.

"It's become a meme in far-right spaces, basically suggesting that the 'insidious global elites' are going to force you to stop eating meat in addition to slowly stripping you of all your rights," said Mariel Cooksey, executive director of the institute, in an email to CTV News.

During Rustad's same keynote address, he also suggested climate change measures could result in Canadians losing some of their "ability to move around,” which would make them “vulnerable to more government control.” He went on to praise participants in the Freedom Convoy protest.

"My hats off to those people, those people that took that initiative," he said. "Those are values that we need to fight for."

Speaking at an unrelated news conference in Surrey on Wednesday, B.C. NDP leader David Eby joked about Rustad's bug-eating comments, saying: "In my experience, the challenge with children up to a certain age is preventing them from eating bugs."

"Here's something that John Rustad and I can agree on, so let's put a hand across the aisle about not forcing children to eat bugs," he added.

CTV News reached out to Rustad and the B.C. Conservatives for clarification on his remarks, but did not receive a response.

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Isabella Zavarise