THE NDP said on Wednesday that in the party leaders’ radio debate, BC Conservative Party Leader John Rustad rejected multiple opportunities to denounce his candidate Chris Sankey spreading the conspiracy theory that vaccines cause AIDS.

In the post-debate scrum, Rustad said “you’ll have to talk to Chris about that particular comment.” The NDP said that it’s unclear if Rustad will actually let Sankey answer media questions – but it seems unlikely.

Sankey has also not addressed his past claims that:

• Wildfires are set deliberately “to build the case for climate change” (tweet available here)

• The January 6 Capitol Hill insurrection was a hoax by Democrats to frame Trump (tweet deleted but available here)

When pressed about his candidates’ views on vaccines later in the day at the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, Rustad said: “We have candidates that have a variety of views and I’m okay with that.”

Rustad has said he re-vetted his candidates – meaning either that is not true, or he was aware of Sankey’s view on “VAIDS” and still decided to keep him, the NDP said.

The NDP also noted that Rustad doubled down on his position that he’ll direct police not to enforce recent gun laws such as Bill C-21, which restricts semi-automatic weapons like the AR-15 and freezes handgun sales.

The NDP pointed out that although Rustad claimed he was talking about “law-abiding gun owners,” the assault-style weapons he is referring to are illegal – that’s the purpose of the law he has promised to not enforce. Rustad’s directive would not impact legal guns, but it would prevent police from seizing those illegal assault weapons.