John Rustad, Nechako Lakes MLA, has condemned an apparent act of violence near an NDP constituency office in the Lower Mainland.
An explosive device was detonated at the front door of Infrastructure Minister Bowinn Ma's constituency office in North Vancouver on the morning of June 27, officials confirmed. No injuries have been reported. Rustad, who is also leader of the Conservative Party of BC, spoke with The Lakes District News to share his thoughts on the incident.
"It's very disturbing. It's very sad. It doesn't matter from what political stripe a person is. There should never be this type of threats and action taken," he said.
Rustad urged British Columbians with frustrations about government to protest peacefully.
"In the province, there's a lot of people that are upset about a lot of things, but violence is never an answer," he said. "Protest is fine, but peaceful, respectful is the way these things need to be."
Rustad said he sent a note to his constituency office staff to leave the office if they become uncomfortable and alert the RCMP to anything suspicious, but the office remained open as did many other constituency offices around the province.
The RCMP held a news conference at 1:30 p.m. on June 27, telling reporters police got calls reporting a "loud bang" at about 2:45 a.m. Police went by the scene, but did not find anything. They were called again at about 4:15, and went back, finding evidence of an explosion this time.
