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NDP provincial director Heather Stoutenburg said the party has received no formal complaints from Ashe about the nomination process
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The B.C. NDP are disputing Jeanette Ashe’s version of events after the Douglas College professor and political equity advocate bowed out of the party’s Vancouver-Yaletown nomination race over complaints that the party had tilted the outcome in favour of Terry Yung, a Vancouver police inspector and husband of Vancouver city Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung.
“I’m sad to say I’m writing to let you know that I’m no longer seeking the B.C. NDP nomination in Vancouver-Yaletown. Thank you for taking the time to chat and to reach out; I really appreciate your support,” Ashe, who is also the wife of former Vancouver mayor Kennedy Stewart, wrote in an email to party members that was posted to social media by CKNW radio host Jas Johal.
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“It has recently come to my attention that the Vancouver-Yaletown nomination process has been compromised and the playing field is not level.”
Ashe’s resignation led to rumours that the Premier’s Office and party executives had given Yung a leg up in the race, similar to the Vancouver-Little Mountain race in April where Premier David Eby’s wife, Cailey Lynch, came out in support of longtime family friend and Vancouver Coun. Christine Boyle.
Boyle ended up defeating incumbent George Heyman’s chosen successor, Andrea Reimer, by a narrow vote of 83 to 71.
At least one party insider believes that Ashe’s complaints aren’t founded, but even if they were, said it’s still up to local members to elect their candidate.
“It’s an open riding, and unlike other parties, there’s actually a democratic nomination process that happens there, where folks have an opportunity to put their name forward and sign up members and win the nomination,” said Jeff Ferrier, Framepoint founding partner and former executive director of health communications under Adrian Dix.
“The word that I heard is that Terry had a more successful organizing campaign than Ms. Ashe and was very likely in a position that he was going to win the nomination because of that.”
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Nikki Hill, former director of organization for the NDP and a close friend of Ashe, said she will support the complaint process as it’s designed for situations just like this.
She said she thinks Ashe would “be an amazing MLA and that she’s done a lot for equity in representation.”
Ashe didn’t respond to requests for comment by Postmedia News in time for publication.
NDP provincial director Heather Stoutenburg said the party has received no formal complaints from Ashe about the nomination process in Vancouver-Yaletown and the nomination meeting is scheduled to go ahead on Aug. 28.
“We look forward to nominating another dynamic NDP candidate to take the fight to the Conservatives in the fall election,” she said.
The Tories have put forward Melissa De Genova, former Vancouver city councillor and ex-park board commissioner. B.C. United and the Greens both have yet to select a candidate in the riding.
University of the Fraser Valley political scientist Hamish Telford said the complaints raised by Ashe are indicative of a larger problem within Canada’s political system, namely that party leaders at the provincial and federal levels can overrule grassroots constituency associations without any repercussions.
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He said that he would have thought Ashe going up against B.C. United Leader Kevin Falcon in the 2022 Vancouver-Quilchena byelection would have earned her some more points with the party, but evidently it had a different candidate in mind for Vancouver-Yaletown.
“This electoral system is a system that generally privileges grassroots democracy, which is generally a strength, but of course leadership wants to see a certain balance in its slate of candidates,” said Telford. “When you leave things up to individual ridings, you’re not necessarily guaranteed a balance in the slate and it is always perceived to be problematic so leadership intervenes.”
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