Three candidates removed from B.C. Nurses Union election for campaign misconduct

VANCOUVER — B.C. Nurses Union elections have been marred by disunity after the removal of three candidates’ names from the ballot before voting begins.

The candidates have vowed to take their case to the province’s Labour Relations Board in an effort to overturn the BCNU’s decision to return the current president, vice-president and treasurer by acclamation. Will Offley, Sharon Sharp and Mary Jean Lyth were running under the banner B.C. Nurses Vote For Change in a bid to claim the union’s top three executive positions.

They say in a statement that the lack of an election means the union has denied 47,000 members the right to a democratic process in elections that were set to start today and continue until June 2.

The union’s acting executive director Umar Sheikh says the three candidates’ names were dropped from the ballot by an independent nominations committee because of campaign misconduct that led to numerous complaints. He says the trio violated agreements not to publish false statements in their campaign literature.