The Liberal Party of Canada confirmed on Thursday it plans to run a candidate against NDP leader Jagmeet Singh in the Burnaby South byelection, after months of remaining coy on the question.
A party source also confirmed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau plans to call byelections “early in the new year” for the three ridings currently without MPs – Burnaby South, Outremont in Montreal and York–Simcoe in Toronto.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh: Regardless of the fate of $7.4-billion Trans Mountain Expansion project, the Liberal government must implement its national Ocean Protection Plan. Photograph By Patrick Doyle, The Canadian Press
The Toronto Star is reporting the byelection will be set for February. The source said that will likely be the case but said it’s not certain.
In late October, the leaders of the Conservative, Green and Bloc Quebecois parties joined Singh in writing a letter to Trudeau, urging him to call the three byelections. The prime minister had recently called a byelection in one eastern Ontario riding (Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes) days before the deadline to do so.
At the time, the leaders said Trudeau was denying residents of the remaining three ridings their right to representation in Ottawa.
“I’m not sure why Mr. Trudeau delayed making this call in the first place, but I’m excited to discuss the issues that matter most to the people of Burnaby South, like the housing crisis, costs of prescription drugs and threats to our environment,” Singh said in a statement Thursday.
“The Liberals will need to answer to voters for their many betrayals over the past three years. With an NDP MP the people of Burnaby know they’ll have someone in their corner pushing the government to deliver solutions they urgently need.”
Singh will face off against corporate lawyer and Conservative candidate Jay Shin, the only other declared major-party candidate. The Green Party decided not run a candidate in the riding, citing the so-called “leader’s courtesy” tradition of not running candidates against rival leaders.
The People’s Party, recently formed by MP Maxime Bernier, who left the Conservatives, has announced plans to run in Burnaby South but has yet to name a candidate.
The Liberals have yet to nominate a candidate, but Adam Pankratz, the Liberal candidate who narrowly lost to Stewart in 2015, said he has been door-knocking and is exploring the idea of running again.
Before Wednesday’s announcement, Pankratz urged the Liberals to run a candidate in Burnaby South, as some speculated the party would also observe the “leader’s courtesy.”
“There's been a lot made of the leaders' agreement, which isn't really a thing,” he said. “If that does exist at all, it's been more if it were the leader of the opposition but, I mean, historically you've seen under many situations parties run against the leaders of other political parties.”
Pankratz said no matter who the Liberals run in Burnaby South, the message will be the same.
“I think the Liberal Party will run on what you've seen the party running on across the entire country – a message of a plan for middle-class Canadians and a balance of economic and environmental concerns,” Pankratz said.
A Liberal spokesperson, Braeden Caley, said the Liberals will follow their national nomination rules in all three ridings. Those rules include a green-light process and Liberal members voting for potential candidates.
