The ongoing B.C. Conservative Party leadership review 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.
WATCH | Rustad faces leadership review:Â 
B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad faces scheduled leadership review
The B.C. Conservative Party has launched a review of John Rustad’s leadership. It’s a routine survey of members’ approval, usually done after an election loss. But as CBC’s Katie DeRosa reports, it comes amid internal party infighting.
CBC News confirmed with two party sources, whom CBC has agreed not to name because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, that red flags were raised with regards to more than 2,000 new party members.
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.
WATCH | Rustad’s leadership questioned:Â 
John Rustad’s B.C. Conservative party leadership questioned
A review of John Rustad’s leadership of the B.C. Conservative party has led to allegations of fake membership sign ups and ballot stuffing. As CBC’s Katie DeRosa reports, it’s caused more infighting within the Official Opposition.
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.
B.C. Premier David Eby said the Conservatives weren’t fit to govern after the allegations came to light. (Ethan Cairns/CBC)
CBC News called Rustad on Tuesday for comment and to respond to Eby’s allegations.
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.
CBC News has learned a B.C. Conservative caucus meeting scheduled for Thursday has now been postponed.
Rustad takes a picture with a supporter on election night in October 2024. He had a meteoric rise to Official Opposition leader, but has faced a number of critics since. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press)
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.
Emergency caucus meeting
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.
B.C. Conservative finance critic Peter Milobar said the Tories would work out things together as a caucus. (Chad Hipolito/The Canadian Press)
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.