THE NDP said on Wednesday that in a now deleted March 30 Facebook post, B.C. Conservative MLA David Williams (Salmon Arm-Shuswap) promoted a graphic which depicts western Canada, including the majority of British Columbia, as the “Republic of Western Canada.”

The graphic describes the western provinces as a “Protectorate of the United States.”

In addition, Williams said “Confederation has not been fair to western provinces” and that “something needs to change.”

A screenshot of the post is available here.

NDP MLA Ravi Parmar said:“Canada will never be the 51st state. For one of [B.C. Conservative Leader John] Rustad’s MLAs to promote British Columbia becoming a ‘Protectorate of the United States’ is appalling. This is just another instance of pro-Trump, pro-U.S. rhetoric from John Rustad and his team.”

Later, when asked by reporters about Williams’ post, Rustad refused to say that was wrong. Instead he dodged the question, saying: “I don’t really have a comment for that…”

When the reporter asked: “But John, did the MLA not correctly read the room, considering the quasi-endorsement of Western separatism?” Rustad replied: “You’ll have to ask him about that.”

The NDP said Rustad and members of his team have consistently stood with people who support Trump, and opposed actions to stand up to Trump’s unfair and unjustified tariffs, including opposing retaliatory tariffs, banning Red State liquor, and voting against a motion to condemn tariff threats to B.C.

Parmar said: “John Rustad won’t show leadership and stand up to Trump, but we will. We look forward to John Rustad making his MLA available to answer media questions about why he was promoting a plan for B.C. to join the United States.”