Rustad must explain why he thinks British Columbians "have bought into a lie" about climate change before asking for their support, says Sharma

Vancouver, BC - On the eve of launching his campaign to be Premier, John Rustad owes a clear explanation to the British Columbians he is seeking to lead: why does he think they’ve been duped into believing the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change?

In a 2022 Facebook post that still appears on his page, Rustad wrote:

“The CO2 theory does not hold water. All of their projections and predictions have been wrong. Yet the masses have bought into a lie and as the saying goes, it is far easier to convince someone of a lie than it is to convince them they have been lied to.”

Just two weeks ago, Rustad echoed this view to Jordan Peterson: “How is it that we've convinced carbon-based beings that carbon is a problem?”

But polls show that carbon-based British Columbians overwhelmingly agree with the scientific consensus on climate, including 87% of British Columbians who believe climate change has impacted the province.

In the past, Rustad said climate change “may be a hoax” and just recently insisted during an editorial board interview with the Globe and Mail that it was "false" that humans burning fossil fuels is the cause of climate change.

Niki Sharma, B.C. NDP Candidate:

“John Rustad is telling the people of BC they’ve been duped into believing a lie. He’s directly insulting the millions of British Columbians who are seeing the impacts of climate change firsthand. Mr. Rustad needs to explain himself to the people to this province. He wants to be premier and believes that British Columbians are fools for believing scientific experts and their own eyes.”

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