Thoughts on BC Politics and More

MLAs in the BC legislature have eased their minds about a number of glitches in the 2024 general election, but there are still worries about ­the misinformation and ­disinformation that was spewed during the campaign. Concerns, particularly in the Conservative Party of BC, about problems that emerged during the closest vote in ­provincial history prompted the unusual move this year of ­referring Elections BC’s final report to a special committee on democratic and electoral reform ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Elections BC says British Columbia should extend the campaign period for fixed-date elections and by-elections by having "writ day" and the close of nominations occur on Wednesdays instead of Saturdays. It's among six "priority recommendations" in the election agency's final report on the 2024 provincial election, released Thursday. The report also includes a series of "public policy considerations," including possible minimum age limits for political donors after Elections BC saw cases of "very young children" making contributions ... CLICK HERE for the full story 

Conservative candidates could be on ballots for local councils in several of BC’s biggest cities for next year’s municipal elections, after the recent launch of a new, multi-jurisdictional, right-of-centre civic party. Elections BC’s official list of registered political parties, updated earlier this week, shows that a Conservative civic political party is now registered to operate in 15 BC municipalities ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Recent court filings by Elections BC admit that it made critical errors in their administration of  the 2024 BC Provincial Election, confirming Mr. ( Honveer Singh)   Randhawa’s concerns about the integrity of  the electoral process. This admission comes as Mr. Randhawa challenges the validity of the 2024  BC Provincial Election.   Elections BC admits that no individual was identified as having assisted any of the 22 voters that  voted by way of mail-in ballot from the mental health lodge notwithstanding the fact there were  clear instructions on the certification envelope for any individual having provided assistance to  the voter to record their name.  Section 109.1(b.1) of the Election Act requires an individual  assisting a voter to write their name on the certification envelope of the voter’s mail-in voting  package. The copies of the envelopes disclosed to Randhawa confirm that the individual  providing assistance to...

In a new BC Supreme Court filing, Elections BC admits its vote-by-mail team erred in the Surrey-Guildford riding, where NDP candidate Garry Begg won by 22 votes on a judicial recount ... but it says the Conservative Party of BC runner-up, Honveer Singh Randhawa, filed a petition to invalidate the result more than a month after the deadline ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Conservative Randhawa seeking to force by-election after NDP’s Begg won a squeaker. The BC Supreme Court judge presiding over a Conservative Party of BC candidate’s bid to overturn the NDP win in Surrey-Guildford said May 26 that the main hearing could last two weeks. Justice Barbara Norell reserved decision on applications by Elections BC and NDP MLA Garry Begg to seal or ban publication of personal information of certain voters. Norell said she does not want to wait much longer to hear the case. “I am concerned, this is an election and we've got to get this matter heard as quickly as we can,” Norell said in court ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Lawyers for the head of Elections BC and the NDP’s Surrey-Guildford MLA are scheduled to ask a B.C. Supreme Court judge in New Westminster today for orders to ban the publication of names of voters. The hearing coincides with the beginning of the last week of the spring Legislature session. The NDP’s Garry Begg won the riding by 22 votes after a judicial recount last November. Conservative Honveer Singh Randhawa held a 103-vote edge after the polls closed on election day. Premier David Eby made Begg his Solicitor General and the win gave the NDP a 47-seat majority in the new 93-seat Legislature ... CLICK HERE for the full story

“ Once again, we see further evidence, now from the Greens, of serious irregularities in the 2024 election. We need a public inquiry. The Chief Elections Officer has chosen to stick his head in the sand ." ~~ John Rustad MLA, Leader of the Official Opposition     John Rustad, Leader of the Official Opposition, delivered additional evidence today of serious voting irregularities in the 2024 British Columbia provincial election in Surrey-Guildford. Rustad repeated his demand, originally made January 9th, for the urgent appointment of a senior justice of the Supreme Court to lead a formal investigation by an independent Commission of Inquiry, pursuant to the Public Inquiry Act. On Tuesday, February 25th, Manjeet Singh Sahota, the British Columbia Green Party candidate in Surrey-Guildford in the 2024 election, swore an affidavit as part of the ongoing court action. In the sworn affidavit, Sahota states: “ Before the 43rd Provincial Elections’ final voting date of October 19, 2024,...

The BC Conservative Party is criticizing the province’s campaign finance laws after learning a union supporting the BC NDP spent nearly half a million dollars on advertisements in the lead-up to the last provincial election. Disclosures published by Elections BC on Tuesday reveal the Hospital Employees’ Union (HEU) spent more than $470,000 in the three months before the election on TV, radio and social media advertisements, many of them sharply critical of the BC Conservatives and their leader John Rustad. That spending — a record for third-party advertisers in recent elections — is legal ... CLICK HERE for the full story

There is yet another twist in the ongoing saga of last October’s provincial election. In an exclusive interview with 1130 NewsRadio, the losing BC Conservatives candidate in Surrey-Guildford, Honveer Randhawa, says he’s retaining legal counsel to push back against Elections BC after the agency announced it was pausing its investigation into alleged voter tampering. On Tuesday, the electoral body shared that the “allegations in Mr. Randhawa’s January 3 complaint to Elections BC are substantively the same as the allegations made in the court petition” ... CLICK HERE for the full story

" These statements from Argyll Lodge are absurd on their face”   ~~ Steve Kooner, MLA for Richmond-Queensborough, and   Official Opposition critic for the Attorney-General’s ministry                               British Columbia’s Official Opposition is calling for an RCMP investigation into voting irregularities at the Argyll Lodge licensed substance abuse and recovery facility in the Surrey-Guildford riding in the provincial general election last October. The party’s lead critic on the issue is doing so after the manager of the facility Baljit Kandola made public statements in the media that Elections BC has contradicted. “ It is clear that things are not adding up here ,” said Steve Kooner, Official Opposition critic for the Attorney-General and Conservative MLA for Richmond-Queensborough. “ It’s time for the police to investigate potential offences under the Elections Act .”...