Yesterday, Press Progress reported that BC Liberal candidate John Rustad advocated for the removal of COVID-19 restrictions in response to a letter from conspiracy theorist Tony Mitra.

Mitra’s letter to Rustad was full of conspiracy theories, including:

• The media is “extremely biased” and “has become the mouthpiece for unelected globalist corporations pushing for medical totalitarianism.”
• Medical science is “more like voodoo and less like science at this stage.”
• Scientists are “forcing unnecessary vaccines on an unwilling population.”
• MLAs are “engaged in destruction of British Columbia, to turn it into an outlying protectorate of BILLGATISTAN.” (sic)
• COVID-19 is a “a fake pandemic designed to engineer a planned Coup d’état to topple democracy.”

Rustad’s response noted that he doesn’t normally reply “to emails that are not from my constituents. In this case, I felt compelled to respond.” Rustad continued:

• “The freedoms we have as a society should be one of our most cherished possessions. During this serious COVID-19 pandemic, those freedoms have been significantly restricted.”
• “I can tell you that I am advocating for the removal of those restrictions as quickly as can be.”
• “As an opposition MLA, I look forward to holding the government to account for their choices.”

Rustad’s response does not defend public health orders or reject any of Mitra’s claims.

It’s not the first time Rustad has backed COVID-19 conspiracy theories. He also retweeted a video of Elon Musk with the caption “the entire death count is a provable lie.”