Both B.C. Conservative and NDP attack ads aim to distort

The New Democrats can scarcely claim to have clean hands on the matter of attacks, online or otherwise. They’ve lately been saying that if John Rustad wins the election, he’ll bring back bridge tolls. Rustad was a backbencher and cabinet minister in the B.C. Liberal government that brought in bridge tolls. He was also part of the government that lost a bunch of seats and its legislative majority in 2017 because the NDP one-upped it by vowing to get rid of bridge tolls. With that experience fresh in his memory, Rustad now says there’s no way the Conservatives would restore bridge tolls. “Absolutely not,” Rustad told broadcaster Harjinder Thind on radio CKYE (Red FM) this week. “We are not considering it, and we will never consider it. There’s no way that tolls should be put on. That just hurts affordability for people.” There’s another aspect of the strategy behind political attacks. They are framed to “make him deny it.” Rustad is put on the defensive and some people will wonder if maybe he’s been caught out. But you’d have a hard time imagining a scenario where Rustad, having secured the premier’s office, decides to sacrifice his mandate, credibility, and maybe his political career by double crossing the electorate on tolls.