There they are for us to see: three leaders, three different parties, three reviews on their leaderships, three standing to win the battle, three poised to lose the war.

David Eby faces his review this weekend, Pierre Poilievre faces his in January, and John Rustad is their object lesson on the wounds these reviews reopen, the bleeding that ensues and the scars they leave. As tough as it is to keep your party’s support once it is hard-won, as true as it is that already holding the job is an advantage, incumbency is no safety blanket in the wider world, where the real contest is far more ruthless. All three appear on borrowed time.

Rustad, as has been well documented, secured 70.6 per cent of the 1,258 votes cast in the BC Conservative’s post-election review this summer. The paltry turnout was indicative of a party that has lost last year’s mojo, and it is clear that Rustad’s team minimized any threat along the way by scheduling votes at the height of holiday season. Averaging the support of nine out of an average of 13.5 votes in the province’s 93 ridings is scarcely a mandate for a book club.

Rustad has since lost the fifth MLA post-election from his caucus, and his poll numbers suggest a crash and burn from what was once a meteoric ascent. His rickety win was a wide warning. Half of his own 2024........

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