Conservative campaign operatives are accusing the Liberal Party of running a “racist” campaign in the recent Oxford federal byelection, claiming slogans that highlighted winning Tory candidate Arpan Khanna’s past ties to Brampton, Ont. are an example of dog-whistle politics.
In a letter posted on LinkedIn, Hamish Marshall, a long-time Conservative strategist and pollster who ran the party’s 2019 federal election campaign, said the Oxford race was “the most disgusting, overtly racist campaign I’ve ever seen.”
“I’ve been around politics for almost 30 years and yet the blatant hypocrisy of the Liberal Party of Canada still manages to shock me,” he said, adding that Monday’s closely fought byelection race was also the “nastiest” one he’s ever witnessed.
Khanna, an Indo-Canadian, is a relatively new resident of Woodstock, Ont. who previously ran for the federal Conservatives in Brampton in 2019.
Marshall and others are pointing to signs that dotted the riding in the lead-up to Monday’s vote as evidence of racism.
One sign spotted in the riding bore the slogan, “Dave is from Woodstock not Brampton,” a reference to Liberal candidate David Hilderley’s ties to the region as a former schoolteacher and real estate agent.
Other banners, which were attached to Hilderley’s lawn signs, urged people to “vote local.”
Another slogan used by Hilderley’s team was, “From Oxford, for Oxford.”
In his campaign literature, Khanna touted his education at the University of Western Ontario in neighbouring London to bolster his local credentials.
His tenuous ties to the region prompted claims that Khanna was a “parachute candidate,” an outsider hand-picked by party leaders to run in a safe Conservative seat.
A sign saying ‘Dave is from Woodstock, not Brampton’ stands next to a Liberal election sign during the Oxford federal byelection. Conservative MP-elect Arpan Khanna previously ran for the party in Brampton, Ont. in 2019. (Supplied by Hamish Marshall)
Marshall said Khanna, who won by a smaller margin than the last Conservative candidate in the 2021 federal election, is “the hardest working politician I know” and that drive secured him a victory despite the allegedly racially tinged messages he faced in the riding.
Jenni Byrne, a senior adviser to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, said Marshall’s racism claims were a “precise analysis” of what went on in Oxford.
Sarah Fischer, director of communications for the Conservative Party, said in a statement to CBC News that Marshall’s description of the Liberal strategy as “disgusting” and “racist” is “unfortunately accurate.”
“To say that there were undertones of racism exhibited by the Liberal campaign would be painting the picture with too light of a brushstroke. It was overt and intentional. The signs, comments, ads and literature insinuating that the Conservative candidate was ‘not one of us’ were disgraceful. It brought Liberal campaigning to a new low that would likely shock many Liberal Party supporters,” Fischer said.
“We are very proud of Arpan Khanna for the strong and respectable campaign he ran, despite the horrendous prejudice he had to deal with.”
Liberal candidate David Hilderley’s team used the slogan ‘From Oxford, for Oxford’ in some of their campaign material. (David Hilderley/Facebook)
Brampton, a suburb of Toronto, is home to a large South Asian community. More than 50 per cent of the city’s residents trace their ancestry to the Indian subcontinent.
Speaking to reporters on Parliament Hill, Hilderley, who was in Ottawa after his byelection loss for a Liberal caucus meeting Wednesday, called the racism claims “baloney.”
“We actually ran a very, very good campaign. We had a very strong, super strong team. We had so much support from MPs close by,” Hilderley said.
“It’s pretty good when you can bring up the best results in the last 30 years for the Liberals. I’m thrilled we accomplished so much in Oxford County.”
Liberal candidate David Hilderley calls Tory claims of a racist campaign ‘baloney’
Asked by reporters about his campaign, Hilderley denied the claims and said he ran a ‘very strong’ campaign.
The Liberals, meanwhile, claim Poilievre’s hard-right brand of politics is what alienated some traditional Conservative voters and nearly tipped the long-time Tory seat into the Liberal win column.
“Indeed, that claim is baloney,” Azam Ishmael, national director of the Liberal Party of Canada, told CBC News when asked about Conservative racism claims.
“Pierre Poilievre parachuted his long-time friend into a riding that he thought would easily secure him a job in his caucus — a move that saw former CPC MP Dave MacKenzie endorse our Liberal candidate in this byelection.
“Clearly, this is a desperate attempt by Conservatives to distract from the fact that Canadians are rejecting Pierre Poilievre’s reckless policies that would take Canada backward.”
Conservative Arpan Khanna, left, Liberal David Hilderley, centre, and New Democrat Cody Groat, right, ran in the southern Ontario riding of Oxford in a federal byelection. (arpankhanna.ca, davidhilderley.liberal.ca, oxfordndp.ca)
Khanna was running in a riding that is among the least racially diverse in the province — a largely rural area with smaller population centres like Woodstock and Tillsonburg.
According to the 2021 census, 90 per cent of the Oxford riding’s residents are white English speakers. The second most commonly spoken language in Oxford is Dutch.
Since the last census, the riding has seen an influx of racially diverse newcomers, some of whom have settled in Woodstock, a manufacturing hub that’s home to a number of automotive supply companies.
Khanna won 43 per cent of the vote compared to 36.2 per cent for Hilderley — a relatively tight race in a riding that has had a conservative-leaning MP for most of the past 70 years.
A Khanna campaign volunteer, who spoke to CBC News on the condition that they not be named, said the Liberal campaign was “just gross.”
“I’m not adverse to some hard campaigning but it was unseemly. The only point of their campaign was, ‘Arpan is not from here,'” the volunteer said.
“If it had been a white candidate from London, you wouldn’t have seen this stuff. All of this talk about, ‘We don’t want Brampton politics in Oxford,’ it was barely a dog-whistle.”
Conservative candidate Arpan Khanna at his victory party in the southwestern Ontario riding of Oxford. (Isha Bhargava/CBC News)
The Conservative Party’s nomination race for the seat was a contested one — and talk of Khanna’s Brampton ties started there first.
Outgoing MP Dave MacKenzie endorsed his daughter, local councillor Deb Tait, to succeed him as the Conservative candidate in the race.
Tait has alleged dirty tricks by party headquarters secured the nomination for Khanna, who served as Poilievre’s Ontario campaign co-chair. The party denies Tait’s claim.
MacKenzie and Tait ended up endorsing Hilderley.
“We’ve been here for over 50 years and all that time I’ve known [Hilderley] he’s been a good, strong, honest man with principles,” MacKenzie told CBC News at the Liberal byelection night watch party.
“He’s been very active in the community. I’m just one that believes it’s about the community. I don’t think you can drop in someone from 100 kilometres away and have the community’s interest at heart — no matter what they tell you.”
Catherine Agar and Brian Kaufman, the Conservative Party’s Oxford riding association president and vice-president respectively, resigned after Khanna’s nomination.
In a letter announcing her resignation, obtained by the London Free-Press, Agar said the nomination was “full of problems” and the party’s rules were “repeatedly ignored.”
“It is my personal opinion that the Oxford nomination was hijacked by people from Ottawa and Brampton who crafted a win for Mr. Khanna with a small sample of the Oxford Conservative membership,” she said.
The New Brunswick Liberal Party has won a majority government, and Susan Holt will become the first woman to lead the province.
Here’s the latest from election night. All times are ADT.
10:15 p.m.
The results of the New Brunswick election are in, and with virtually all of the ballots counted, the Liberals won 31 seats out of 49.
The Progressive Conservatives won 16 seats.
The Green Party won two.
Voter turnout was about 66 per cent.
—
10 p.m.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has congratulated New Brunswick Liberal Leader Susan Holt for her party’s victory in the provincial election.
Trudeau says on the X platform he’s looking forward to working with Holt to build more homes, protect the country’s two official languages, and improve health care.
—
9:48 p.m.
During her victory speech tonight in Fredericton, New Brunswick premier-designate Susan Holt thanked all the women who came before her.
Holt will become the first woman to lead the province after her party won a majority government in the New Brunswick election.
The Liberals are elected or leading in 31 of 49 ridings.
—
9:30 p.m.
Blaine Higgs says he will begin a transition to replace him as leader of the Progressive Conservatives.
After being in power for six years, the Tories lost the election to the Liberals.
Higgs, who lost his seat of Quispamsis, says, “My leadership days are over.”
—
9:17 p.m.
The Canadian Press is projecting that Blaine Higgs, leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick since 2016, has lost in the riding of Quispamsis.
Higgs, 70, has been premier of New Brunswick since 2018, and was first elected to the legislature in 2010.
—
8:45 p.m.
When asked about the election results, Progressive Conservative chief of staff Paul D’Astous says that over the last 18 months the party has had to contend with a number of caucus members who disagreed with its policy.
D’Astous says the Tories have also had to own what happened over the last six years, since they came to power in 2018, adding that the voters have spoken.
—
8:39 p.m.
The Canadian Press is projecting that David Coon, leader of the New Brunswick Green Party, has won the riding of Fredericton Lincoln.
Coon, 67, has been leader of the party since 2014, the year he was first elected to the legislature.
—
8:36 p.m.
The Canadian Press is projecting that the New Brunswick Liberal Party has won a majority government in the provincial election.
Party leader Susan Holt will become the first woman premier in the province’s history.
—
8:20 p.m.
Early returns show a number of close races across the province, with the Liberals off to an early lead.
Liberal campaign manager Katie Davey says the results will show whether party leader Susan Holt, a relative newcomer, was able to capture the attention and trust of the people of New Brunswick.
Davey says she believes voters have welcomed Holt and her message, which focused on pocketbook issues, especially health care.
—
8 p.m.
Polls have closed.
Eyes will be on a number of key ridings including Fredericton South-Silverwood, where Liberal Leader Susan Holt is vying for a seat; Saint John Harbour, which has been competitive between the Tories and Liberals in recent elections; and Moncton East, a redrawn Tory-held riding that the Liberals have targeted.
At dissolution, the Conservatives held 25 seats in the 49-seat legislature. The Liberals held 16 seats, the Greens had three, there was one Independent and there were four vacancies.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
FREDERICTON – A look at Susan Holt, premier-designate and leader of the New Brunswick Liberal party.
Born: April 22, 1977.
Early years: Raised in Fredericton, she attended Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., and then spent a year in Toronto before moving abroad for three years, spending time in Australia and India.
Education: Earned a bachelor of arts in economics and a bachelor of science in chemistry from Queen’s University.
Family: Lives in Fredericton with her husband, Jon Holt, and three young daughters.
Hobbies: Running, visiting the farmers market in Fredericton with her family every Saturday.
Before politics: CEO of the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce, CEO of the New Brunswick Business Council, civil servant, business lobbyist, advocate, consultant and executive with an IT service company that trains and employs Indigenous people.
Politics: Worked as an adviser to former Liberal premier Brian Gallant. Won the leadership of the provincial Liberal party in August 2022 and was elected to the legislature in an April 2023 byelection.
Quote: “We don’t take it lightly that you have put your trust in myself and my team, and you have hope for a brighter future. But that hope I know is short-lived and it will be on us to deliver authentically, on the ground, and openly and transparently.” — Susan Holt, in her speech to supporters in Fredericton after the Liberals won a majority government on Oct. 21, 2024.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
FREDERICTON – New Brunswick voters have elected a Liberal majority government, tossing out the incumbent Progressive Conservatives after six years in power and handing the reins to the first woman ever to lead the province.
Liberal Leader Susan Holt is a relative newcomer to the province’s political scene, having won a byelection last year, eight months after she became the first woman to win the leadership of the party.
The Liberals appeared poised to take 31 of 49 seats to the Conservatives’ 16 and the Greens two.
Holt, 47, led the Liberals to victory after a 33-day campaign, thwarting Blaine Higgs’s bid to secure a third term as Tory premier.
The Liberal win marks a strong repudiation of Higgs’s pronounced shift to more socially conservative policies.
Higgs, meanwhile, lost in his riding of Quispamsis. In a speech to supporters in the riding, he confirmed that he would begin a leadership transition process.
As the Liberals secured their majority, Green Party Leader David Coon thanked his supporters and pledged to continue building the party, but he then turned his sights on the premier. “One thing is for sure,” he told a crowd gathered at Dolan’s Pub in Fredericton, “we know that Blaine Higgs is no longer the premier of this province.”
The election race was largely focused on health care and affordability but was notable for the remarkably dissimilar campaign styles of Holt and Higgs. Holt repeatedly promised to bring a balanced approach to governing, pledging a sharp contrast to Higgs’s “one-man show taking New Brunswick to the far right.”
“We need a government that acts as a partner and not as a dictator from one office in Fredericton,” she said in a recent interview with The Canadian Press.
Higgs focused on the high cost of living, promising to lower the provincial harmonized sales tax by two percentage points to 13 per cent — a pledge that will cost the province about $450 million annually.
Holt spent much of the campaign rolling out proposed fixes for a health-care system racked by a doctor shortage, overcrowded emergency rooms and long wait-times. A former business advocate and public servant, she promised to open 30 community health clinics across the province by 2028; remove the provincial sales tax from electricity bills; overhaul mental health services; and impose a three per cent cap on rent increases by 2025.
The 70-year-old Tory leader, a mechanical engineer and former Irving Oil executive, led a low-key campaign, during which he didn’t have any scheduled public events on at least 10 days — and was absent from the second leaders debate on Oct. 9.
Holt missed only two days of campaigning and submitted a 30-page platform with 100 promises, a far heftier document than the Tories’ two-page platform that includes 11 pledges.
When the election was called on Sept. 19, the Conservatives held 25 seats in the 49-seat legislature. The Liberals held 16 seats, the Green Party had three, there was one Independent and four vacancies. At least 25 seats are needed for a majority.
Higgs was hoping to become the first New Brunswick premier to win three consecutive elections since Liberal Frank McKenna won his third straight majority in 1995. But it was clear from the start that Higgs would have to overcome some big obstacles.
On the first day of the campaign, a national survey showed he had the lowest approval rating of any premier in the country. That same morning, Higgs openly mused about how he was perceived by the public, suggesting people had the wrong idea about who he really is.
“I really wish that people could know me outside of politics,” he said, adding that a sunnier disposition might increase his popularity. “I don’t know whether I’ve got to do comedy hour or I’ve got to smile more.”
Still, Higgs had plenty to boast about, including six consecutive balanced budgets, a significant reduction in the province’s debt, income tax cuts and a booming population.
Higgs’s party was elected to govern in 2018, when the Tories formed the province’s first minority government in almost 100 years. In 2020, he called a snap election — marking the first province to go to the polls during the COVID-19 pandemic — and won a slim majority.
Since then, 14 Tory caucus members have stepped down after clashing with the premier, some of them citing what they described as an authoritarian leadership style and a focus on conservative policies that represented a hard shift to the right.
A caucus revolt erupted last year after Higgs announced changes to the gender identity policy in schools. When several Tory lawmakers voted for an external review of the change, Higgs dropped dissenters from cabinet. A bid by some party members to trigger a leadership review went nowhere.
Higgs has also said a Tory government would reject all new applications for supervised drug-consumption sites, renew a legal challenge against the federal carbon pricing scheme and force people into drug treatment if authorities deem they “pose a threat to themselves or others.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
