It’s not often political leaders look to the combative environment of the B.C. legislature for safety. But given the alternatives facing Premier David Eby and Opposition Leader John Rustad right now, both are hoping to use the start of the fall session Monday to get their feet under them and back onto more stable ground.

For Rustad, safety looks like pulling his disintegrating caucus into the house and trying to force it back together by attacking the NDP government.

He’ll have to do it without Elenore Sturko, his star public safety critic, whom Rustad booted from caucus last month in a desperate bid to cling to power after a fraud-plagued leadership review returned a tepid 70 per cent approval.

And he’ll have to watch his flank for angry party members upset that he fired a junior communications staffer with long ties to the party after she tweeted that it........

© BIV