[5] Prior to provincial politics, he had worked in the forest sector for two decades, founding a consulting firm named Western Geographic Information Systems Inc. in 1995.

[8] He kept his cabinet post following his re-election in 2017,[9] and added the role of Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations to his duties after Steve Thomson's election as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.

[10] Rustad continued in both ministerial roles until that July, when the Liberal minority government was defeated in a non-confidence motion.

[6] After suggesting online that carbon dioxide emissions were not contributing to climate change, Rustad was removed from the Liberal caucus by leader Kevin Falcon on August 18, 2022;[11] he then sat in the legislature as an independent politician.

[20] Rustad proposes removing from schools a set of teaching materials known as SOGI 123 (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity) which according to CBC is a collection of "guides and resources that aim to help teachers address discrimination and bullying, create supportive and inclusive environments for 2SLGBTQ+ students and acknowledge varying genders and sexual orientations".

[21] On September 30, 2023, Rustad shared a post on social media that appeared to compare the teaching of sexuality and gender to the residential school system.

[24][25] At the same online meeting hosted by anti-vaccine groups, Rustad said that he would be open to working with other jurisdictions for a "Nuremburg 2.0" event to look into prosecuting people responsible for the province's public health measures and vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic, referring to an idea popular in anti-vaccine groups inspired by both the Nuremberg trials and the Nuremberg Code.

[25] After reporting on the comments surfaced in October 2024, Rustad apologized and said that it was wrong to compare public health measures and Nazi German crimes.