On the day British Columbia Conservative Party Leader John Rustad unveiled a major election campaign promise to help renters and homeowners squeezed by high housing costs, a video surfaced showing him saying he regrets getting the "so-called vaccine" against COVID-19. The New Democratic Party shared the video Monday, while Leader David Eby said voters in B.C.
should be aware that the B.C. Conservative Party leader's "health policy is driven by conspiracy theories from the internet.
" The video, released by the NDP on Day 3 of B.C.'s election campaign, is an edited version of longer footage posted online by the BC Public Service Employees for Freedom, a group of former workers who believe they were discriminated against for not getting vaccinated.
It shows Rustad directly addressing a camera and saying vaccine mandates were "not so much" about achieving herd immunity or stopping the spread of the disease as they were about "shaping opinion and control of the population." The group says the conversation with Rustad took place on June 14 in an online meeting with its members. Rustad sidestepped commenting directly on the video at a campaign event in Surrey on Monday where he introduced his tax rebate plan, but said the NDP was trying to "distract away from the real issues.
" The previous inability of unvaccinated doctors and nurses to get their jobs back in B.C. was a "horrendous problem," he said.
The NDP lifted the vaccine mandate for health workers in July. Rustad said he wante.