as political shakeups go this is an earthquake this is hard it's really hard the leader of BC's official opposition bowed out of the race just two months before the provincial election folding his party into the surging BC conservatives making this man John rustad a contender for Premier when I traveled around the province people are saying enough is enough until very recently the conservatives were a fringe party just 2% in the polls in the last election no more polls now show rustad has a chance of beating NDP Premier David eie this feels like one of those sort of once in a generation once every other generation moments where we get a profound shift uh in the party system this pretty much means the end of BC United formerly the BC liberals the party of Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark ruled with a center right Coalition for 16 years but the Rebrand last year failed and the conservative message resonated speaking out against the ndp's drug decriminalization policy and the soaring cost of living the same message delivered by the popular Federal leader of a party with the same name the conservatives federally at this moment are lightning in a bottle and they were able to take some of that electricity but also some of that brand recognizability and transfer it to a party let's all remember that got 2% of the vote in the 2020 election rustad is a former BC liberal himself kicked out of the party for his views on climate change the BC conservatives have ousted nominees for their views on covid vaccination in the lgbtq community so we're looking at a party that is more conservative uh than what we have seen in the province in some time uh along with an NDP government that has taken a few steps to the left so it is a much Starker uh choice for voters so Lindsay we're about 7 weeks away from the election what does all of this mean for the candidates running against the NDP well that's a big question in the leaders said today that they would work together to figure out the team that had the best chance to beat the NDP which means that there's a chance some candidates from either party who thought they would be running may not be running anymore and there's also a chance that some BC United members or candidates don't like this at all and they may choose to run as independent so there is lots of drama to come sure is Lindsay Dunc in our Vancouver Newsroom tonight