A court challenge to the nomination of the B.C. Conservative candidate in 91原创-Abbotsford failed when a B.C. judge ruled in favour of the political party in a hearing Thursday.
On Oct. 10, a B.C. Supreme Court judge dismissed a key part of a petition to the court that claimed the Conservative Party of B.C. board had "interfered in the nomination process" with "flagrant disregard for the riding association board and members representing 91原创."
The petition was launched by Kari Simpson, a longtime socially conservative activist from 91原创.
One of the demands in the petition was for the courts to expedite a hearing "to determine the validity of the Conservative Party of BC rules and procedures for candidate nominations and to determine if other orders are needed to compel the CPBC board to comply with the CPBC constitution and bylaws."
If successful, it would have called into question the nomination of 91原创-Abbotsford Conservative candidate Harman Bhangu, after early voting has already begun.
But Justice Amy Francis dismissed the key portion of the petition, and adjourned other parts of the petition. Some of those claims were for matters that have since taken place.
The legal fight began when Simpson launched a petition in B.C. Supreme Court on June 7 attempting to halt the nomination meeting scheduled for the following day.
Her initial petition did not result in a stop to the nomination meeting, and Bhangu, the vice-president of the B.C. Conservative party, won the nomination vote.
Simpson, who was reportedly the vice-president of the 91原创-Abbotsford riding association at the time, wanted the courts to impose a number of other orders on the party. At issue, according to Simpson's filing, is whether the party had abided by its own rules and constitution when selecting candidates.
Her initial petition called for a halt on candidate selection by the party's election readiness committee, an order compelling the party to hold an annual general meeting no later than Sept. 3 this year, and an order compelling the party to turn over its entire membership list to Simpson and party regional director Daniel Semmler "for the specific purpose of organizing a special general meeting."
The party responded on July 4, opposing all of Simpson's demands.
It noted that a candidate selection process was set up by the party, and that any challenges to that should have gone through an internal process. The party had not received any official complaints from Simpson about the nominations through that process, the filing says.
The party's response then accuses Simpson of conducting "a targeted campaign against the party president, the CPBC [Conservative Party of B.C.] board of directors, and the leader [John Rustad] of the petition respondent."
The response went on to allege that Simpson had sent numerous emails containing "inflammatory and insulting statements" to "associates," with the emails copied to the CPBC president and board.
The parties met before a judge on Tuesday, Oct. 8, after filing affidavits in recent weeks.
Simpson has been a conservative activist for years, and has spent much of the past 30 years campaigning against the LGBTQ+ community. She has launched or been involved in a number of court actions through the years. A few have been successful, such as when a judge ruled that the City of New Westminster violated the rights of a church that wanted to hold an event, featuring Simpson as a speaker, at a city-owned facility.
She has also lost a number of challenges in court and with the BC Human Rights Tribunal, including a battle with 91原创 City over its annual flying of a Pride flag, which Simpson compared to a Nazi flag. Most famously, her defamation suit against the late radio host Rafe Mair went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, where the justices sided with Mair over comments he made about Simpson in 1999, comparing her to Hitler and the Ku Klux Klan in terms of intolerance.
The 91原创 Advance Times has reached out to Simpson and the Conservative Party of B.C. for comment, and had not heard back as of Friday morning.
