Herb Dhaliwal’s campaign to revive offering a ‘Liberal’ option for next month’s provincial election in British Columbia took a renewed, much more serious, turn. “I condemn the complete disrespect shown by the BC United Party’s [BCU] Leader, Kevin Falcon (who on August 28th pulled his Party’s nominees from competing and endorsed his previous political adversary – the BC Conservatives), has shown towards moderate, liberally-inclined centrist voters wanting no part of the polarization ongoing between the left (B.C. NDP) and right (BC Conservatives) when they vote on October 19th”, stated Dhaliwal. “Mr. Falcon has not so much as acknowledged my appeal letter dispatched to him a week ago to quit holding the Liberal brand hostage and approve Elections BC’s permitting us to register and use on the ballot the name “New Liberal Party B.C.”.
Given that Falcon has reversed his decision to run less than a handful of BCU nominees in the 93-seat contest now underway, Dhaliwal’s legal counsel – Joven Narwal, K.C. – is petitioning via a letter to the Province’s Chief Electoral Office to rescind his interpretation, unfavourable to Dhaliwal’s approach, of a regulation designed to prevent voter confusion.
According to Dhaliwal “No conditions which possibly would confuse the electorate now exist. So, while we await a hopefully prompt, favourable reaction from Elections BC, I have instructed our lawyer to prepare for a ‘judicial review’ application post haste in the event that our request is denied.”
Dhaliwal recently took the initiative to organize a new political movement for “Liberal-minded” voters in BC who want to preserve a moderate, centrist choice in the government of politics of BC. Dhaliwal has applied to register a new party for this election.
He said, “British Columbia deserves better than a return to the dysfunctional political skirmishing of a bygone era when provincial politics degenerated into polarizing Right versus Left combat. This Province cannot afford such a wrong-headed approach by The Right manipulating the process to impede The Left. Now, because the unprecedented action of the BC United Leader abandoned middle-of-the-spectrum voters, what could be shaping up as a bitter battle between the ‘Centre-Left’ N.D.P. and the resurgent ‘Far-Right’ BC Conservatives would deny many thousands of liberal-inclined citizens a political home. On behalf of those orphaned British Columbian voters wanting a ‘liberal’, middle choice, we are taking the necessary steps to register the name New Liberal Party of B.C. with ELECTIONS BC.”
However, Elections BC rejected the idea, because a similar name is already registered – the previous name for Kevin Falcon’s rebranded BC United.
