B.C. Liberal MLA John Rustad has been booted from the Liberal caucus. And while Liberal Leader Kevin Falcon gave no specific reason for the ejection, it appears a heretical tweet on climate change is at least partly to blame.
“Politics is a team sport and British Columbians expect their elected officials to work cooperatively on the important issues facing our province," Falcon said in a news release.
“Like any team, our caucus operates on a foundation of mutual respect and trust. While a diversity of perspectives are encouraged and a source of strength, they cannot exist without that important foundation in place. Following a pattern of behaviour that was not supportive of our caucus team and the principles of mutual respect and trust, I have removed MLA John Rustad from the BC Liberal Caucus effective immediately.”
It is perhaps no small coincidence that the ejection came shortly after Rustad retweeted Patrick Moore, the former Greenpeace member who now espouses opinions on climate change that many would describe as heretical.
Moore does not deny climate change is happening, but attributes warming to natural causes, and has said that increased CO2 is beneficial, as it promotes plant and tree growth.
In the tweet that Rustad retweeted, Moore wrote that there has been no net warming in Australia for the past 10 years and that the Great Barrier Reef "has more coral cover this year than ever recorded. The case for CO2 being the control knob of global temperatures gets weaker every day."
Falcon responded to Rustad's retweet with a tweet of his own, distancing the party from Rustad.
"Let me be clear, #ClimateChange is one of the most critical threats facing our future," Falcon wrote. "The @bcliberals are strongly committed to substantive climate action & restoring BC's place as a world leader in climate policy. @JohnRustad4BC does not speak on behalf of caucus on this issue."
Moore is not wrong about coral reef growth in Australia. The Australian Institute of Marine Science recently reported "the highest coral cover recorded ... in the Northern and Central GBR." That observation is based on 36 years of monitoring.
And while global warming can have natural causes, the overwhelming consensus of the scientific community is that current warming trend is primarily, if not exclusively, due to the amount of CO2, methane and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from human activity, mainly from the use of fossil fuels.
BIV has reached out to Rustad for comment.
