More than half of Liberal and Conservative candidates running to represent a B.C. riding have never had experience as an elected representative.
Leading up to this federal election cycle, Elections Canada re-drew and expanded the number of ridings across the country to keep up with population changes. That process boosted B.C.'s federal seat count to 43.
In 18 of those races, the Conservative Party of Canada is running a candidate who has previously held office as an elected official. That includes 13 incumbents.
The Liberal Party — which at one stage trailed by more than 20 points in the polls and was losing a number of star candidates across Canada — is running a B.C. slate that includes 19 candidates with past elected experience. Of those, 10 are running as Liberal incumbents.
The Liberal tally was confirmed by a party spokesperson. BIV’s count — which includes elected positions in municipal, provincial, federal or in a First Nation’s governments — went unanswered by the Conservative Party.
Richard Johnston, professor emeritus of political science at the University of British Columbia, said he is surprised the Liberals managed to recruit so many experienced candidates given their low popularity only a couple of months ago.
He said past evidence shows politicians progressing through different levels of government is generally good for democracy and public transparency.
That’s because repeated interactions with political parties and the public tend to act as the most effective vetting process, he said.
“Believe it or not, this makes them more honest,” said Johnston. “It’s absolutely critical to democracy.”
Johnston pointed to several inexperienced candidates across Canada who were recently ejected from running after making controversial comments.
That includes first-time Conservative candidate Lourence Singh, who sought the New Westminster-Burnaby-Maillardville riding before he was dropped by the party on April 1. A day later, BIV he was found to have made comments in a 2021 podcast defending China’s system of government as having “found the right balance.”
The former candidate also questioned media reports that the government was “ethnically cleansing” the Uyghur minority group and “putting them into camps”—framing their persecution as a state move against “terrorism.”
A 2022 report from the United Nations found China’s treatment of the Uyghur minority population of more than 11 million people may constitute crimes against humanity.
At the time, Singh did would not confirm that his comments on the podcast had led to his ejection from the party.
Six days later, the former Conservative candidate he had been removed because of his past comments on China.
According to Elections Canada, Singh is now registered to run in the upcoming election as an independent candidate.
“Sometimes the best vetting come through public experience in other government,” said Johnston.
“The people to be feared the most are the people who have no prior political experience and think they know everything.”
Meanwhile, the NDP — which in the last week of March sunk to single digit support in national polls — is running seven incumbent candidates, including party leader Jagmeet Singh.
Another eight NDP candidates in B.C. have past experience as an elected official outside of federal politics, confirmed by party press secretary Erin Burchett.
Elizabeth May is the only incumbent running in B.C. for the Green Party of Canada. Her race, and that of Nanaimo Green candidate and former MP Paul Manly, remain hotly contested, according to the party.
