Former Conservative MLA calls for John Rustad to resign as leader

The Peace River North MLA is calling for the B.C. Conservative party leader’s resignation.

On Tuesday, June 24th, Jordan Kealy posted on X – the platform formerly known as Twitter – calling for John Rustad to resign for what he says is “the good of British Columbians.”

He stated Rustad’s leadership is “building on a weak foundation that he created, and it’s cracking” in the same week that it was revealed voting for the party’s leadership had started.

Statement from MLA Jordan Kealy:

Today, I’m calling on John Rustad to STEP DOWN as leader of the Conservative Party of British Columbia—for the good of British Columbians.
If he stays in charge, he will run this party into the ground. In fact, he’s already going down that path.… pic.twitter.com/HJ6N5HV8Aj

— Jordan Kealy (@Jordan_Keal) June 24, 2025

Speaking to Energeticcity.ca, Kealy said he called for Rustad’s resignation after the leader accused Kealy and two other former Conservative MLAs of blackmail.

The trio – who left the party in March amid controversy over residential school comments made by MLA Dallas Brodie – all deny the accusations.

Brodie and the third MLA, Tara Armstrong, have now created a new party called One BC.

“He has not produced any information whatsoever to the RCMP,” claimed Kealy. “[Premier David Eby] even called him out.”

In a letter posted on X on June 16th, Rustad alleged the former Conservative MLAs – without naming them explicitly – had made “several attempts” to blackmail Conservative staffers.

“From what I have been told, the threat is framed something like: ‘we will pay you handsomely to join with us and we will damage you if you refuse,’” reads the letter.

It also claims the MLAs recorded phone calls and took pictures of texts between themselves and party staffers.

Meanwhile, Kealy is calling for a third-party independent review of the Conservative annual general meeting (AGM) which took place in March.

He alleges the meeting was not done in compliance with party’s bylaws.

“Everything that was delivered throughout that meeting was biased,” said Kealy. “On the ballots themselves, they actually had ‘Rustad’s team’ underneath certain individuals and under other individuals they were named ‘independents,’ even though they were part of the Conservative party.”

Kealy said the rhetoric “needs to stop” and if Rustad were to resign, Kealy would contemplate re-joining the party.

Rustad has denied all allegations, saying in the letter that the AGM voting was “100 per cent in line” with the party’s 2024/25 constitution.

“Between two lawyers who served as our AGM chairs and another third-party expert who administered votes, I have been assured by all parties that all rules were followed – including the rules for membership, delegate fees and delegate selection.”

He added “none of the independent scrutineers chose to make any complaints or challenge the validity of the board election.”

Rustad has called a press conference for June 25th in Victoria at the Civic Hotel.

Energeticcity.ca has reached out to the Conservative Party’s communications representatives for comment but did not receive a response.