The main reason for tainted and embattled BC Liberal MLA Kash Heed calling it quits before next year’s election is that he knows he probably won’t be able to win the nomination in his current riding which was overtaken by Jagdeep Sanghera in a riding association coup.
By R. Paul Dhillon
VANCOUVER – Despite tainted and embattled Vancouver-Fraserview Liberal MLA Kash Heed’s quiet announcement of calling it quits in his political career and taking a well deserved shot at his down and out party – the writing has long been on the wall for Heed who never recovered from the illegal anti-NDP flyer scandal as well as being found guilty of overspending the election spending limit.
Sources tell the LINK that Heed directly or through an intermediary approached both the BC NDP and the federal Liberals to take him but both said “no thanks” to the once Vancouver top cop and former West Vancouver police chief, who has been pushing a law and enforcement agenda and has made enemies of the RCMP by being outspoken critic of the force and lobbying for its dissolution in BC in favour of local city policing.
Either Heed is politically naive or he just doesn’t get it that in politics perception is everything and his 10 minutes of political fame has run out with the flyer scandal and the election overspending and he is not going to get more tries with other parties for whom he will be a genuine liability than an asset as he was when he decided to enter politics.
But the main reason for Heed calling it quits before next year’s election is that he knows he probably won’t be able to win the nomination in his current riding which was overtaken by Jagdeep Sanghera in a riding association coup earlier this year.
A visibly shaken Heed was not too happy at the time of the riding association vote and even told LINK photographer Sukhwant Dhillon that he can’t take photographs as it was a private meeting.
Sanghera is mulling to run himself while other Indo-Canadians such as Barj Dhahan have also expressed interest but the party is busy recruiting candidates from the Chinese-Canadian community to counter the NDP’s already nominated Gabriel Yiu who beat out Vancouver councillor George Chow to run again. Yiu is favoured to win as NDP is strong in South Vancouver and with the BC Liberals in a political dumpster – it may be a sweep for the NDP everywhere.
While announcing his exit from politics – Heed couldn’t help but take a shot at the BC Liberals headed by the hapless leader Christy Clark, who is busy fighting the latest scandal to hit her short reign -that of flatly lying that she had no hand in the BC Rail corruption scandal where two former Indo-Canadian BC Liberal insiders – Dave Udhe Bassi and Bob Virk – were made the scapegoats and then were given a sweet $6 million deal to plead guilty to charges that brought no jail time.
Recently, internet blogger Alex Tsakumis unveiled bomb shell documents that clearly shows that Clark definitely knew and was involved the biggest corruption scandal ever to hit this province.
Ironically, Heed’s entry into politics coincided with a launch to the top ranks of the BC Liberals. Shortly after, he found himself in the midst of controversies and was knocked down twice from his post as attorney general.
Heed told CTV News Saturday, confirming details of an interview with a South Asian newspaper in which he slammed the BC Liberals for inaction and focusing on politics over policy.
He admitted the Liberals aren’t alone in this regard. He also said bureaucratic roadblocks prevented him from making headway on policing, drug and gang issues.
NDP MLA Shane Simpson isn’t surprised.
“It’s extremely telling when a member of the government caucus says one of the reasons I’m leaving is that I don’t have confidence that this government is prepared to put the interests of British Columbians first,” he said.
Heed is the second MLA recently to announce he won’t seek re-election, while ministers George Abbott and Kevin Falcon say they haven’t yet made their decisions.
With a provincial election less than a year away, pollster Mario Conseco thinks the Liberals’ popularly could become a determining factor.
“Part of the problem is a lot of people are looking at this from the standpoint of, ‘If I try to run with this party under the current conditions, with the BC Conservative Party that is nipping at our heels, with the BC NDP at 50 per cent, I may not win the election,’” he said.
In an email to CTV News, the BC Liberals said MLAs deciding not to run is just part of what happens in the lead up to an election.
With News Files Courtesy CTV News Vancouver
