Judge denies NDP hearing to force Conservative Party to use 'B.C.' during election

A B.C. Supreme Court judge refused Friday to schedule a last-minute hearing into the NDP request for an injunction

Published Oct 11, 2024  •  Last updated 5 hours ago  •  4 minute read

Courtroom 60 at the BC Court of Appeal in Vancouver, BC Friday, February 24, 2023. Photo by Jason Payne /PNG

The B.C. NDP has been refused a chance in court to argue the Conservative Party of B.C. should have used its full name on ballots for the Oct. 19 election.

A B.C. Supreme Court judge refused Friday to schedule a last-minute hearing into the NDP request for an injunction.

The NDP said in its application to the court that the provincial Conservatives purposefully removed “B.C.” from their name to take advantage of the popularity of the federal Conservatives.

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It said many NDP door and text canvassers were being told by voters they were voting for Pierre Poilievre, leader of the federal Conservative Party, or that they wanted to vote out Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Even though the B.C. NDP acknowledged the 3.7 million ballots already printed couldn’t be changed before next Saturday’s election, it wanted the chance to go before a judge as early as Tuesday to argue the Conservatives were deliberately misleading voters.

An affidavit filed in court by the NDP’s campaign coordinator, Joel Blok, included text messages from voters who, when asked if the NDP could count on their support, texted back, “Pierre for PM” or “I gotta go with Pierre Poilievre, sorry guys.”

The remedies the NDP sought if its injunction was successful was to have the online list of candidates changed to include the words B.C. and to have Elections B.C. change any of its online materials to include “B.C.” next to Conservative candidates, NDP lawyer Susanna Quail told the court.

She said she could prepare and forward her materials for a hearing to the other parties — Elections B.C. and the Conservative Party, both of which opposed a hearing — over the Thanksgiving weekend.

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But John Bilawich, an associate judge of the Supreme Court, said next week was “just too soon” to allow for the parties to exchange materials and to get ready.

Delaying the hearing another day or two on issues that needed to be argued that were “so broad and sweeping” because it involved the name of a political party going back decades wouldn’t be much help, he said in denying the application.

“It’s important to note that the judge said the issue was important, but was concerned there wasn’t enough time to address the concerns,” NDP spokesman George Smith said in a text message. “The petition remains filed and valid to be heard at a later date to ensure that a decision is made to protect voters from confusion in the future.”

The Conservative Party of British Columbia has registered eight different names with Elections B.C. since 2002, and twice last year changed its name to be used on the ballot, Jodi Cooke, executive director of electoral finance with Elections B.C. said in an affidavit.

In April 2023, it changed its ballot name from Conservative to Conservative B.C., and six weeks later changed it to Conservative Party, and both were approved by Elections B.C., she said in the affidavit.

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Parties are allowed to use full names or the “usual name” of the party, if different, or abbreviations, acronyms or other names, she said.

The exception is if the name is likely to be confused with another provincial political party, Cooke said.

Other ballot names have included B.C. Conservative (2002), B.C. Conservative Party (2003 and 2012), B.C. Conservative Party (2004), Conservatives (2009), British Columbia Conservative Party (2017) and Conservative (2018), she said.

Elections B.C.’s lawyer, Menka Sull, told the court that it was busy running an election and it would be difficult for it to deal with the remedies the NDP sought if any were ordered within days of the vote.

The Conservatives’ lawyer, Bruce Hallsor, told the court holding the hearing so close to the vote didn’t give any of the parties time to prepare.

Court was told the NDP could file for injunction after the election, but Hallsor said outside court he doubted it would.

He told the court: “I suspect what they really want is a judge next week to say the Conservative Party did something tricky or bad, which is what they say in the affidavit material, and they don’t care about the remedy, they want this to be an election issue.”

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Also filed with court documents was an affidavit by NDP foot canvasser Marcus Tsang, who said he encounters voters when going door to door who tell him about the federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and that they want Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defeated.

“Half of the voters I speak who say they are voting for the Conservative Party talk to me about federal and not provincial politics,” he said.

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