Call it a case of double happiness for the provincial Conservatives under John Rustad.
As the party Tuesday (July 30) welcomed former B.C. United MLA Teresa Wat among its ranks, a poll released hours earlier shows the B.C. Conservatives within three points of the B.C. NDP.
"We are the only party that continues to expand our support," Rustad said during a joint appearance with Wat. "It really has become a two-horse race."
The poll by Research Co. finds the provincial New Democrats under the leadership of Premier David Eby with 41 per cent support among decided voters in the survey, up one per cent from June. The provincial Conservatives followed with 38 per cent, up five per cent. The B.C. Greens under Sonia Furstenau find themselves in third place with 10 per cent, down five per cent from June, following the announcement by Greater Victoria MLA Adam Olsen that he won't be running for the party in the upcoming provincial election.
B.C. United, under Kevin Falcon, remains in fourth place as support for the party as measured by Research Co. has dropped into the single digits at nine per cent, down two per cent from June.
The party formerly known as the B.C. Liberals is also absorbing the news of Wat's defection to the provincial Conservatives. Wat, who represents Richmond North Centre, is the fourth former B.C. United MLA to leave that party, joining Bruce Banman, Lorne Doerkson and Elenore Sturko under the Conservative banner.
Wat said she had been thinking about joining the Conservatives for months, adding that she has had countless conversations with her constituents prior to her switch.
Rustad welcomed her and added that other high-profile names including "former MLAs" might join the party between now and the election in the fall, now less than three months away.
Wat's switch in late July comes after she had dismissed speculations about a switch, following the switch of Doerkson in late May. Wat even put out a statement on social media re-affirming her loyalty to B.C. United.
When asked about this statement, Wat said she had no plans to switch parties when Falcon had asked her to put out that statement. "But since that happened, every day, when I walk around my riding of Richmond North-Centre, when I'm sitting in my restaurant enjoying my Dim Sum lunch, when I am shopping...everybody comes to me and says, 'Teresa, we need to defeat the NDP ... we wish you can join B.C. Conservatives, then you can win this riding and you can continue to serve us.'"
Wat added she is joining the provincial Conservatives because of its "common-sense" solutions to issues like healthcare and crime in blaming decriminalization and safe supply for making riding residents feel unsafe.
Wat's suburban riding 鈥� which immediately straddles Vancouver's southern municipal boundary and includes a large Chinese language community 鈥� became the flash point of a larger debate about a proposed safe injection site.
Richmond council's early 2024 decision to look into the possibility of having such a facility in the community generated intense, even raucous, opposition among residents with 17,000 people signing a petition against it. The municipality eventually abandoned the idea, which it had initiated. Only senior health authorities can establish such facilities and Vancouver Coastal Health said it has no plans for such a facility, which would have also required approval from Health Canada subject to a lengthy approval process.
But the original idea and the debate itself allowed parts of the political opposition including the Conservatives generally and Wat specifically to turn Richmond's own idea against the provincial NDP.
Rustad at the time described the proposed facility as an "NDP Injection Site" that would "bring drugs, crime (and) chaos via SkyTrain from Downtown Eastside to Richmond."
Wat also blamed the provincial government.
"The NDP鈥檚 decision to keep residents in the dark, rather than giving them a voice in this process, has served to divide our community instead of protecting vulnerable British Columbians," she said.
Both Rustad and Wat alluded to this episode in their remarks with Rustad describing Richmond North-Centre as a "bell-weather" riding whose issues resonate beyond its boundaries.
"It's going to be a very important community for us, for all of us as a province," Rustad said.
With this comment, Rustad was likely referring to the idea that the provincial Conservatives would have to close the gap between them and the NDP in the fast-growing, multicultural suburbs of Metro Vancouver, where the New Democrats currently hold a nine-point point lead, according to Research Co.
The gap is even larger when it comes to support among women between the two parties. Half of women in British Columbia (50 per cent) approve of Eby, but just 32 per cent feel the same way about Rustad.
