No clear winner in B.C. election, Conservative leader says province ‘changed forever’

The outcome of British Columbia’s election was unclear after a close race between the NDP and the B.C. Conservatives, with the Greens poised to play a role in a potential minority government.

Here’s what the party leaders said on Saturday’s election night.

“We don’t know what the final count is going to be in the province, but what we do know is that there was a clear majority for the progressive values. And I take a lot of comfort from that … There is also another message in this narrowest of margins, that we’ve got to do better, and that was our commitment to British Columbians. We’ve got to do better, and we will do better.”

— NDP Leader David Eby

“People are counting on the hope, on the opportunity, on the vision of what can be (a) prosperous British Columbia, not one, quite frankly, that is in a welfare state that it is today … And I can tell you something else, if we’re in that situation of the NDP forming a minority government, we will look at every single opportunity from day one to bring them down at the very first opportunity and get back to the polls.”

— B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad

“It does appear that the Greens are still going to play a pretty pivotal role in the B.C. legislature. It’s a strange time in politics when, during an atmospheric river, people came out and voted for a party that’s denying the reality of climate change. But hey, this is where we’re at. But I am so excited for (Green winners) Jeremy Valeriote and Rob Botterell. This is incredible. This is a passing of the torch and I am going to be there to mentor and guide and lead in any way that I can.”

— BC Green Leader Sonia Furstenau

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 20, 2024

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Alleged members of an Indian gang and its leader have been sending shivers down the spines of members of the South Asian diaspora in Canada for years, says a city councillor in Richmond, B.C.

Kash Heed said the Bishnoi gang, led by Lawrence Bishnoi, gained notoriety and instilled fear among Indian Canadians well before the RCMP accused the syndicate this week of orchestrating violent crimes on Canadian soil.

Mounties have alleged Indian diplomats shared information about Sikh separatists in Canada with the Indian government and top Indian officials then passed information to the Bishnoi.

“(Lawrence Bishnoi’s) reputation precedes him,” said Heed, also a former B.C. solicitor general and a West Vancouver police chief, in an interview.

“He is an individual that is prone to violence in India. A couple of years ago, the Bishnoi gang really started to hit the airwaves and people (were) concerned about it … a lot of the diaspora know about Lawrence Bishnoi and his activities (in India).”

On Monday, the federal government expelled six Indian diplomats after the RCMP said it had credible evidence Indian agents played a role in crimes, including the killings of Canadian citizens and extortion.

“What we’ve seen, from an RCMP perspective, is the use of organized crime elements and it’s been publicly attributed and claimed by one organized crime group in particular, which is the Bishnoi group,” said RCMP Assistant Commissioner Brigitte Gauvin in a news conference Monday.

“And we believe that group is connected to agents of the government of India.”

India has insisted it hasn’t been given evidence of government involvement, and it ordered six Canadian diplomats to leave India.

Heed said he can’t speculate about how the gang and diplomats might be involved in crimes, including the killing last year of activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, leader of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, B.C.

But he said violent extortion cases connected to Bishnoi have been well documented by Canadian and Indian investigators in recent years.

Ritesh Lakhi agrees. The Indian journalist, who was a reporter for an ethnic B.C. radio show before moving to India, has covered the rise of the Bishnoi gang.

“Bloodbaths involving Bishnoi gang members have been happening for years now in India,” Lakhi said in an interview.

“Now this whole gang phenomenon has attracted global attention.”

In December 2023, police in Abbotsford, B.C., said they were investigating extortions involving affluent members of the South Asian community. They said suspects were believed to have ties to the Bishnoi.

Early this year, police in Ontario and Alberta said they were investigating similar extortion schemes, including some that saw bullets fired at businesses.

Heed said he knows one B.C. businessman who lost $3 million because of threats from people who claimed to be members of the Bishnoi.

The National Investigation Agency, India’s counterterrorism law enforcement agency, said in 2023 that Lawrence Bishnoi operates his “terror-syndicate from jails in different states” in India and through an associate in Canada.

Lakhi said the gangster was born in the northern Indian state of Punjab and immersed himself in violence while studying law. He was involved in street fights and arsons with other student leaders over university politics.

During one brawl, Lakhi said Bishnoi’s cousin was murdered and it’s believed Bishnoi shot the killer in revenge a year later.

Bishnoi also continued committing less serious crimes, including arsons and extortions, and was in and out of jail. Lakhi said he shared cells with notorious gang members and eventually took over a group that had lost its leader.

Bishnoi has been in jail since 2015, said Lakhi, and charges against him continue to pile up. Bishnoi is accused of orchestrating violent extortions while behind bars with a cellphone.

“This can be construed to be one of the factors that gives credence to the theory that the Indian state may be protecting Lawrence Bishnoi,” Lakhi said.

He said Bishnoi has recently gained more notoriety by threatening to kill beloved Indian celebrities, political figures and business leaders.

Lakhi said the Bishnoi gang claimed responsibility last week in the shooting of a senior politician in India’s financial capital, Mumbai, before a key state election.

In 2022, Bishnoi was accused of being behind the violent shooting of Punjabi rapper Sidhu Moose Wala, who briefly lived in Canada.

Lakhi alleged Bishnoi had at that time already expanded his network into Canada, noting a brother of an ally in India had moved to B.C. and helped recruit vulnerable Indians.

A 2021 court document says a student who was moving to Canada on a permit in 2017 requested refugee protection because he had been contacted and asked to join the gang and sell drugs.

The document says the student was beaten by Bishnoi gang members before he left for Canada. His application was denied.

Heed said he has heard of other cases of Canadian gangsters with no connection to Bishnoi referencing the group because of the fear its name creates.

“And now, the RCMP have raised (Bishnoi’s) profile significantly here in Canada,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2024.

FREDERICTON – New Brunswick’s election campaign has offered voters a sharp division in viewpoints for the future of the province, especially between the two leading candidates for the premier’s office.

Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs, a unilingual former oil executive running for a third term as premier, presented voters with a two-page platform containing 11 promises, a few of which signal the social conservative bent his party has taken. And he has been noticeable in his absence — on roughly one-third of the days since he called the election on Sept. 19, Higgs has held no public events.

The Liberals, by contrast, have made 100 promises — many of which focus on health care and housing — and bilingual leader Susan Holt, a former consultant and provincial civil servant, has taken full advantage of the campaign’s 33 days, taking few off.

Higgs summed up Monday’s election as one of the most significant in the province’s history.

“There’s very stark differences between the parties that are running,” he told reporters last week. “I truly believe that the outcome will define the future of this province.”

The Tories promised to cut the harmonized sales tax by two percentage points, from 15 per cent to 13 per cent, and to “respect parents.” The latter promise refers to a 2023 decision by the Tory government to require teachers to get parental consent before they can use the preferred first names and pronouns of transgender children under 16.

The Liberals have promised to open 30 community health clinics across the province by 2028 and eliminate the provincial sales tax on electricity bills for residential customers.

Jamie Gillies, a political scientist at St. Thomas University, called the Liberal campaign “traditional,” one that has put Holt at the centre; the Progressive Conservatives, he said, focused much less on the party leader.

He said Holt had a “very clear campaign strategy, which was to focus like a laser on health care.”

“I think they probably succeeded in pushing that as the No. 1 issue during the campaign in the minds of voters. Now, whether the election turns on health care, we’re going to find out on Monday,” Gillies said.

Voters will also discover on Monday whether the Liberals or Tories win a majority; if neither does, the third-placed Green Party could play an outsized role. Leader David Coon has deflected accusations he has a list of demands ready for Holt in exchange for his party’s support in the event her party earns a minority of seats but collects more than the Tories.

Polling numbers have favoured the Liberals in the campaign’s final stretch. Mainstreet Research, in a poll released Saturday, reported the Liberals had a six-point lead over the Progressive Conservatives among respondents. About 43 per cent of survey participants said they would vote for the Liberals while 35 per cent said they’d go with the Tories and nine per cent backed the Greens.

The poll, conducted by phone between Oct. 17-19, had a sample size of 724 and a 3.6 per cent margin of error.

Poll aggregator 338Canada.com projected the Liberals will win 25 seats — just enough for a majority — and the Tories will win 22, but the race is close. The Greens are far behind in the projection, with about two seats anticipated.

The Greens have also focused their campaign on health care, promising to spend $380 million a year on the network and to decentralize decision-making to give more freedom to hospitals. Coon, who was described as a possible kingmaker by Gillies, is also promising to implement a guaranteed income to rid the province of “deep poverty.”

“There is a chance that the Greens can hold the balance of power,” Gillies said, in case the Liberals fall short of a majority.

The results of the election will also show whether Higgs was correct that his changes to the gender identity policy in schools will encourage his base to vote. “So we’re going to see if voters reward or punish the premier for kind of doubling and then tripling and quadrupling down on that issue,” Gillies said.

Tom Bateman, political science professor at St. Thomas University, said the Progressive Conservative campaign was “quite low-key and shorn of promises” except for the “expensive” two per cent cut in the harmonized sales tax. That promise will cost the province roughly $450 million a year when fully implemented.

“I would say that Mr. Higgs has been relatively low-profile, which kind of makes sense given that he’s not the most popular man on the block at the moment,” Bateman said.

He described the Liberal promises as “all things bright and beautiful” and “very expensive” — and that can’t all be fulfilled in one term.

The other factor that could play a role in deciding who gets the province’s top job could be likability, he said.

Bateman said voters “want good policy, they want good government, and they want leaders with whom they would like to have a beer, you know, some Saturday afternoon, and sometimes just can’t get it all.

“But Mr. Higgs, you know, has a certain kind of approach to leadership and contact with the public, and I would say he appears a little frosty to the intermittently interested person, and that may cost him a couple of votes.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 20, 2024.