VICTORIA - After a messy and confusing endgame, John Rustad's leadership of the Conservative Party of B.C. is finally over — but the battle over the ideological direction of the party that he took to the brink of power may be entering a new phase.

Rustad announced his resignation Thursday in the provincial legislature, citing the need for party unity. It came after months of anything but that — media leaks, phones being searched in caucus meetings, and the exit of five MLAs representing different ends of the small-c conservative spectrum.

"Tearing apart this party with a civil war was not the right thing to do," Rustad told reporters, less than a day after saying he would stay on. "We need to be able to always think about how we're standing and building this party going forward."

But a

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