After a fake membership scandal, a tepid leadership review and the ouster of his top MLA, BC Conservative Leader John Rustad found himself in the crosshairs of his critics again this week for firing a caucus staffer who beaked off online.

From the outside, it may look like the least serious of all his many problems. The employee in question, Lindsay Shepherd, was a low-level communications staffer who showed shockingly poor judgment by tweeting online comments about residential schools that would have gotten her sacked by almost any major political party in the country.

Yet, inside the BC Conservatives, the firing is perhaps Rustad’s most serious challenge yet.

Shepherd was a longtime party board member, and one of the original crew that helped Aaron Gunn (now a federal MP) get this modern version of the Conservatives off the ground to become a serious political force. She also has a large social media following among the party’s far-right base.

Shepherd’s treatment has angered some of the most powerful people in the BC Conservatives. Rustad is now a hair’s breadth away from losing the confidence of the party board and top organizers. There is open talk of more MLAs quitting in protest.

Gunn has already fired a thinly veiled shot at Rustad, highlighting how a guy who got fired from the BC Liberals for........

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