Liberals scramble after candidate quits race
Rival of NDP’s Singh in Burnaby South vote drops out over post on Chinese social media
After the sudden resignation of the Liberal candidate in the coming Burnaby South byelection, attention is turning to whether the party will nominate someone new in a bid to pre- vent NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh from winning his first-ever seat in Parliament. The decision could determine Singh’s political fate.
Karen Wang, the Liberal nominee, stepped down on Wednesday after the Star revealed a post she wrote on WeChat, a Chinese social network. Wang urged voters to support her, the “only Chinese candidate” in the race, and not “Singh of Indian descent.”
Singh, who was born in Scarborough, is the first non-white leader of a major federal party.
Wang apologized to Singh in a statement announcing her resignation Wednesday morning, after the Star published details of her WeChat post.
“My choice of words wasn’t well-considered and didn’t reflect my intent,” she said, adding that she has deep respect for the NDP leader. “I believe in the progress that Justin Trudeau and the Liberal team are making for British Columbians and all Canadians.”
“I do not wish for any of my comments to be a distraction in that work,” said Wang.
Singh told a crowd at a Burnaby press conference on Wednesday that he did not expect race to be an issue in the Feb. 25 byelection.
While he encouraged underrepresented people to “organize,” he argued “politics that divides people along racial lines is not the type of politics we need from our country.”
Singh said he did not take Wang’s comments personally but was concerned about politics that “pick sides and pit people against one another.” He also accepted her apology.
“I think she did the right thing and responded in a way that’s very respectful,” he said. “I appreciate that.”
With Wang sidelined from the contest, Singh now faces two main opponents in the byelection set for Feb. 25: Conservative candidate Jay Shin and Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson from the People’s Party of Canada. In an email, Liberal spokesperson Braeden Caley said the party accepted Wang’s resignation and that her comments are not aligned with the party’s values. Asked whether the Liberals will field a new candidate in the byelection, Caley said: “We’ll have more to discuss on that in due course.”
Singh said the NDP will do well in the riding whether there is a Liberal candidate running against him or not.
“I’m confident in our message,” he said. “I am confident that we are the option for people in this riding.”
Singh also denounced reporters’ suggestion that the Liberal Party wants him to win the riding as they do not consider his leadership a threat in the upcoming October federal election.
He said the Liberals are “afraid” of the questions he will ask if he makes it to the House floor and repeated his platform messaging, talking about the need for affordable housing and medication.
“I don’t see anyone else who is going to be willing to stand up in the House,” he said. “I think they’re afraid of facing this reality.”
The Liberals have until Feb. 4 — 21 days before the vote — to nominate a new candidate, according to Elections Canada rules.
Frank Graves, president of EKOS Research, said he doesn’t think the Liberals have enough time to find a quality candidate who can take on Singh in the B.C. riding.
Adam Pankcratz, the Liberal candidate who lost by just 547 votes in 2015, told the Star he has no interest in running. Cyrus Eduljee, who placed second in the nomination contest that Wang won last month, did not return a request for comment on Wednesday.
“I imagine it would be very challenging to find another candidate to meaningfully get in this race,” Graves said.
As the Star first reported, Wang penned the post for which she apologized last Saturday. Writing in Chinese, Wang said: “If we can increase the voting rate, as the only Chi- nese candidate in this riding, if I can garner 16,000 votes I will easily win the byelection, control the election race and make history! My opponent in this byelection is the NDP candidate Singh of Indian descent!”
Wang used the terms “hua yi” to refer to people of the Chinese diaspora and “yin yi” for those from India’s diaspora.
When asked about the post on Tuesday — the day before she resigned — Wang said her intent was “to stress the importance of people from different backgrounds getting involved in this byelection. The phrasing should have been different, and it will be taken down.”
The Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment on Wang’s words and her resignation and referred questions to the Liberal Party.
“Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party of Canada have always stood for the full and equal participation of all Canadians in our democracy, regardless of their background,” said Caley, the party spokesperson, in a statement.
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, who represents Vancouver South, said Wang’s comments flew in the face of the party’s commitment to diversity.
“I’m very disappointed with the comments that the candidate had made,” Sajjan told reporters as federal cabinet min- isters gathered in Sherbrooke, Que. for a retreat. “The values we stand for is representing all Canadians. Diversity is extremely important for us.” In Ottawa, NDP MP Nathan Cullen called Wang’s WeChat post “the worst kind of politics there is.” He said her comment about Singh’s ethnicity comes after Shin, the Conservative candidate in Burnaby South, disparaged the NDP leader for his past as a criminal defence lawyer.
“It’s brutal,” said Cullen, who represents the northwestern B.C. riding of Skeena—Bulkley Valley. “It should be a warning to the Liberals and Conservatives that this stuff can’t come out in the general election.”
from