NDP’s Avtar Bains To Get Tough Battle Despite BC Liberals Drowning Fortunes!
No question that NDP’s recently nominated candidate Avtar Bains will have a lot of trouble against a high profile candidate like but RCMP Inspector Amrik Virk so Bains’ work is cut out for him to demonize the tainted BC Liberals and paint Virk with that same stripe for being their candidate. That will be easier said than done but politics is a blood sport and if you are not willing to get down and dirty, you’re not going to get your message to the voters and win.
By R. Paul Dhillon
SURREY – Another Indo-Canadian top cop is entering politics for the BC Liberals but RCMP Inspector Amrik Virk, who was announced as BC Liberal candidate in Surrey-Tynehead on Thursday, is hoping that his political fortunes are better than embattled and not-suited-for-politics Kash Heed, who made the jump from being the Chief of Police in West Vancouver to a candidate in Vancouver-Fraserview.
Heed won the riding by hook or crook with his team putting out illegal anti-NDP flyers for which Heed never took responsibility and eventually forced himself out of politics, lasting just one term.
While Heed won, Virk is not a shoe-in for the riding being vacated by the ineffective Dave Hayer, which is up for grabs for the NDP even though it has been a BC Liberal bastion for a number of elections.
No question that NDP’s recently nominated candidate Avtar Bains will have a lot of trouble against a high profile candidate like Virk so Bains’ work is cut out for him to demonize the tainted BC Liberals and paint Virk with that same stripe for being their candidate. That will be easier said than done but politics is a blood sport and if you are not willing to get down and dirty, you’re not going to get your message to the voters and win.
For his part, Virk got the upper-hand in getting down and dirty right off the bat, taking shots at the NDP.
“I’ve heard criticisms from the NDP. I haven’t heard solutions. We can’t get ahead by turning B.C. into one big park,” Virk told the NDP.
No response from Bains on his opponent or why Virk chose to run for a party that hasn’t answered for the $6 million legal payout to former BC Liberal insiders Dave Udhe Basi and Bobby Virk to plead guilty to corruption charges.
Bains is perhaps hoping to win by sitting quietly and let the party support carry the day in the riding but that strategy may backfire!
Virk, who first joined the RCMP in 1987, was commissioned to the rank of Inspector in 2001, and has been active in youth and gang violence prevention throughout the Lower Mainland throughout his career.
“Today’s BC Liberals led by Premier Christy Clark are the right choice to keep British Columbia on stable economic ground,” said Virk. “Surrey is a growing community, and people here want a government that shares their concerns about jobs, safety and family affordability.”
Virk is the recipient of the RCMP Long Service Medal, The Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal, The Queen’s Silver Jubilee Medal and the Commissioner’s Commendation for Bravery.
“This government has an outstanding record on crime prevention, and combating youth and gang violence,” added Virk. “On top of that, on Tuesday the government balanced the provincial budget and made B.C. one of only two provinces with balanced books.”
Virk also spent six years on the Board of Directors of the Surrey Memorial Hospital Foundation, and is the Vice Chairman of the Board at Kwantlen Polytechnic University.
Virk’s last day at the Langley detachment was on Wednesday and he has taken a leave without pay from the RCMP. He will retire from the force if elected, he told the Surrey Leader newspaper.
“Running in politics has been on my mind for several years,” Virk told the Surrey Leader on Thursday. “I was asked to run in 2009 but now I am at the right intersection in my life for my family, for my commitments. It’s an opportunity to the right thing.”
Virk said he has spent 25 years as a police officer committed to serving and protecting the public.
“This is really a continuation of that service,” he said
He has lived in Surrey with his wife and three daughters for the past 11 years.
In another high profile nomination, former Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan beat out former party MLA Lorne Mayencourt and another candidate Brian Fixter, to win the nomination to represent the party in Vancouver-False Creek.
