Kevin Falcon’s refusal to condemn climate-denying views expressed by his MLAs shows he’s out of step with British Columbians, says BC NDP MLA George Heyman.

Over the last three years, BC Liberal MLAs Ellis Ross and John Rustad have consistently questioned the science of climate change and criticized the BC NDP’s efforts to reduce emissions.

Last week, BC Liberal MLAs Rustad and Ross both amplified tweets that suggested fighting climate change was too expensive.

In 2021, Rustad claimed carbon emissions shouldn’t be considered pollution. When asked if he thought climate change was real and human-caused, John Rustad said: "I know you asked a very specific question, but at this point I'm not prepared to answer that question.”

In 2019, Ellis Ross falsely claimed “the experts can’t agree” on the science of climate change.

“People in BC want us to be fighting climate change. Kevin Falcon won’t even fight it within his own caucus,” said BC NDP MLA George Heyman. “By letting his MLAs continue to undermine efforts to fight climate change, he’s showing he’s out of step with British Columbians.”

Ross and Rustad’s climate-denial is part of a pattern of anti-science views promoted by Falcon’s MLAs. His MLAs have also backed dangerous ideas about COVID-19 (Rustad, Merrifield) and supported anti-vaccine “freedom convoy” rallies (Shypitka).

“By refusing to denounce anti-science views from multiple MLAs, Kevin Falcon is opening the door to more anti-science ideas within his caucus,” said NDP Vancouver-Quilchena candidate Jeanette Ashe. “It’s alarming that climate denial and anti-vaccine views are acceptable in Kevin Falcon’s BC Liberal party. I urge him to condemn these dangerous views.”