Allegations of fake sign-ups, ballot stuffing cloud B.C. Conservative leadership review

The on-going B.C. Conservativist company leaders critique has been marred by allegations of ballot stuffing and fake memberships.

Leader John Rustad, whose party narrowly lost the 2024 provincial election to the B.C. NDP and saw a meteoric rise to Official Opposition status, has been facing questions over his leadership from both within and outside the party.

Since June, he has been undergoing a leadership review from his party's members — which is taking place by members casting their votes on a riding-by-riding basis, as opposed to voting at a large convention.

Now, allegations of voter fraud have surfaced regarding new membership sign-ups in Kelowna, and B.C.'s premier has pointed the finger at Rustad for being responsible.

B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad faces scheduled leadership review

Each of those new members provided the same email domain and fake phone numbers — and their membership fees were all purchased using three credit cards.

The members signed up on Aug. 29, which was the deadline to join and have a say on Rustad's leadership.

John Rustad’s B.C. Conservative party leadership questioned

In a short statement, the B.C. Conservatives said all the irregular memberships were cancelled at a Sept. 10 meeting of senior party officials.

"We are confident every vote in Kelowna will be cast by members in good standing," a party spokesperson said.

After the news of the suspect memberships came to light, B.C. Premier David Eby seized on the opportunity to take shots at the Tories and Rustad.

"What we are seeing from the Conservatives is the leader of that party alleged to be involved in a large-scale fraud, buying multiple memberships ... Just unbelievable allegations coming out. They are not fit to govern," Eby said at an unrelated news conference.

He said he was in and out of meetings all day and could not speak. He did not respond to another request for comment Tuesday evening.

Thursday is also when party members in the four Kelowna ridings are set to cast their ballots.

All voting in the leadership review is scheduled to be completed by Saturday, but the party has not yet announced exactly when the leadership review results will be made public.

The Conservatives said in June that the results would be announced at a convention in the fall. Rustad can only be removed if he receives less than 50 per cent support in the review.

Rustad met with MLAs during an emergency caucus meeting last Friday.

At one point, MLAs asked Rustad to leave the meeting so they could discuss his leadership, according to multiple sources who were in the meeting.

Peter Milobar, the party's finance critic, was asked repeatedly about Rustad's leadership at an unrelated news conference on Monday.

When asked if he had confidence in Rustad's leadership, Milobar said the MLAs were working through things as a caucus, and he would have more to say as the leadership review unfolded.

"You'd have to ask people within the party, who structured the leadership review process the way they did, why they chose those processes," he said.

"Is a four-and-a-half month riding by riding, moving around the province, process clunky? Absolutely."

Rustad has been facing criticism from numerous sides since he became leader of the Official Opposition, as he tries to maintain party unity with a number of centrist and social conservative MLAs.

His party had been rocked by allegations of blackmail, with a leaked letter from Rustad containing accusations that MLAs who left to form their own party, OneBC, had threatened to release text messages and alleged secret recordings from B.C. Conservative staff.

Provincial affairs reporter

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