By Canadian Press

Judge rejects bid to delay the release of B.C. Liberal leadership results

Feb 5, 2022 | 1:19 PM

VANCOUVER — The B.C. Liberal party can go ahead with the scheduled release of the results of its leadership contest later today after a judge rejected a last-minute bid to delay the process.

Justice Heather MacNaughton has ruled against a petition brought by Vikram Bajwa, who asked the B.C. Supreme Court for an order delaying the release of results over concerns about the party’s recent audit of new members it signed up during the leadership campaign.

Bajwa wanted the results delayed for 15 days and for an order that would have required the Liberals to provide details of its audit of thousands of new members signed up during the leadership campaign. 

A lawyer for the party argued in court on Friday that Bajwa had not provided substantial evidence to support his concerns of voter irregularities.

Voting began Thursday in the race between legislature members Michael Lee, Ellis Ross and Renee Merrifield; business leaders Gavin Dew, Val Litwin and Stan Sipos; and Kevin Falcon, a former B.C. cabinet minister.

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The party gained more than 20,000 members during the leadership process for a total of about 43,000, who could vote online or by phone for a new leader to replace Andrew Wilkinson after his resignation following the party’s 2020 election defeat.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 5, 2022.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Brieanna Charlebois, The Canadian Press