ROACHES FOR RUSTAD

What are we doing?

John Rustad and the BC Conservatives love to throw around baseless conspiracy theories, including the idea that a shadowy, global “liberal elite” will force children to eat bugs. These bizarre and delusional ideas are spread to distract people from the real threats closer to home: the BC Conservatives' own harmful and hateful policies.  The threat of the BC Conservative Party is no conspiracy theory. They have put their ideas down in black and white, and the policies they propose will kill people. The public services we have now are insufficient and he will decimate them.  

We’re having fun dressing as ‘Rustad Roaches,’ but we have a serious message here: we value everyone in our communities and we will mobilize against anyone who threatens the most marginalized among us including people who use drugs, people without homes, LGBTQ youth, and people struggling with poverty. This includes of course David Eby and the BC NDP, who have caved into Conservative framing on a number of issues including on safe supply and "involuntary care."

Climate change

The BC Conservatives will increase the pace of the climate crisis by expanding LNG production, mining and pipelines. They also plan to further criminalize non-violent protest and activism - the people who are on the front lines trying to protect us from projects that worsen climate change.We know that climate change is not only real, it’s already here and harming people in BC.

The 2023 wildfire season was the most destructive on record. Extreme weather events like floods and heat waves have killed hundreds of people and uncountable numbers of wildlife in our Province. The cost of these unrelenting disasters is enormous -  as much as $17Bn in 2021. 

We can combat climate change by shifting to jobs in renewable sectors, retrofitting our homes and infrastructure for greater resiliency, and centering democratic worker control and Indigenous reconciliation as key guiding principles.

Food security and sovereignty

The BC Conservatives will make food more expensive at a time of skyrocketing grocery bills. Food is one of our basic human needs, and BC Conservative policies will drive up costs. Fossil-fuel driven development increases climate change, leading to droughts, heat waves, floods, and freezes that destroy crops. Sprawling development eats into valuable ALR land that could be used for growing food. Catering to the whims of billionaires like Jim Pattison while threatening to dismantle vital social networks will increase food insecurity, poverty and homelessness in our province.

Some real food for thought: put food production and distribution under local worker control and further Indigenous reconciliation through sustainable food gathering and production.

If you’d like to joing the DSOV Flying Roach Squad and attend upcoming actions, connect with us via email democraticsocialistsyvr@gmail.com