Conservatives call for independent review of 2024 B.C. election, Surrey candidate filing court petition

Official opposition Leader John Rustad is calling for an independent review of last year’s election, claiming on Thursday that a team looking into the party’s loss found several irregularities, potentially altering the final results.

“We need to have confidence in the results. We need to have confidence in how business is conducted in this province by governments,” Rustad began.

“I wanted to make sure that I dealt with facts, things that we could find, things that we could do research on,” he explained. “We felt important at this point to share what we have found to date, but also to indicate that there is more work that still needs to be done.”

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Speaking to media Thursday, the Conservatives leader detailed the party’s concerns, including allegations of non-Canadian citizens voting and problems at senior’s homes, amongst others.

“We found other cases where an individual went to vote and was told they couldn’t vote because somebody had already voted [in their name],” Rustad explained. “We had another instance where an individual was registered as voting, who said they didn’t vote.”

Rustad was joined by former party candidate for Surrey-Guildford Honveer Singh Randhawa, calling for a review of the election and Elections BC’s conduct of the election.

Separately, Randhawa is filing a court petition to declare that the election of Garry Begg as MLA for Surrey-Guildford is invalid. The petition comes after the Conservatives campaign manager, party president, and even Rustad himself shared in November that they would not be disputing the final election outcome.

Randhawa lost to the BC NDP candidate in last year’s October election by just 22 votes. Elections BC’s initial counts showed the NDP candidate leading by just 21 votes. However, after a judicial recount finalized three weeks later, incumbent MLA Begg held onto his marginal lead by a final 22 votes.

Keeping Surrey-Guildford was crucial for the NDP to maintain its 47-seat majority.

Rustad shared that some of the “more disturbing things” found by their team occurred in the Surrey riding, including a case where someone was able to vote twice.

“We found a case where at least two-dozen ballots that were cast [by people] with their place of residence, according to Elections BC, is not where they currently live,” he claimed. “There’s a follow-up that’s needed to find out to know where they did that. Did they live in the riding, or did they live outside of the riding and use a different address to double the vote in the riding?”

Rustad also claimed that a third party was used at a care facility located “just 80 yards across the road” from a polling station, where 21 mail-in votes were allegedly cast.

“Individuals in that facility have come forward, in regards to what happened,” Rustad said.

Surrey care home in question denies any wrongdoing

The care home in question was surprised to hear about the complaints when contacted by CityNews on Thursday.

“I’m not aware of anyone coming and interviewing our people to gather this information, so I don’t really know what their sources are,” said Balgit Kandola, Argyll Lodge’s director of care.

“Our clients have been voting in the same manner for years. I’ve been here for over 30-some years,” she said. “Clients are free to make their own choices. We only help people who have a language barrier. But again, in no way shape or form are we able to influence people’s decisions as to who they are going to cast their vote for.”

“I don’t really know where this is all stemming from,” Kandola stated.

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The director outlined how residents cast their votes, explaining that staff will ask them initially if they do want to cast a ballot, and they are provided with ballots from Elections BC. “That is their choice. … After that they are collected in the sealed envelope and dropped off at the elections office.”

Kandola stated that the home’s policies and mandate dictate that it does not engage in any kind of political or religious conversations with its clients, saying, “We don’t have any kind of vested interest in voting for or against anyone.”

“But to make things a little bit easier for our clients, the elections commission has decided to drop the ballots off [to us], so that we are not transporting, as some people have mobility issues, 25 people to the polling stations,” she explained.

Despite the Conservatives’ claims that a manager at the facility made a donation to the NDP, Kandola said people are “clutching onto straws here.”

“We are not connected with any kind of wrongdoing when it comes to the elections that just happened,” she affirmed.

The Conservatives are also calling for all licences and IDs issued in the province to include a ‘C’ if the holder is a Canadian citizen, ensuring ease for Elections BC officials to “make sure that people who vote are Canadian citizens.”

“An independent review needs to look at not just these irregularities that we have found … they need also to, quite frankly, look at how the election was conducted by Elections BC — the fact that they are not focusing on making sure that there’s Canadian citizenship for people that vote,” Rustad continued.

The Election Act outlines that at the time of a recount, the deadline to appeal the results must be filed with the court within two days after they are declared. The Conservatives did not appeal the count at the time.

In a statement to 1130 NewsRadio on Thursday morning, Elections BC says, “We received a complaint from Honveer Singh Randhawa on January 3, 2025. The complaint is under review.”

Eby previously proposed all-party review of electoral system

While Rustad did not share explicitly how the independent review of the election should be handled, in November last year, Premier David Eby issued a statement saying his government also supports the idea of an independent review of the electoral system.

Eby explained then that the BC NDP was proposing an all-party committee to examine the steps taken by Elections BC, hear from experts, and recommend improvements for future elections.

“British Columbians need to be assured that strong safeguards are in place to catch these issues and ensure every vote is counted accurately. I remain confident in the outcome of the election. At the same time, it’s clear we need to review the processes, technologies and systems used to tally votes accurately and support public confidence,” said Eby on Nov. 4.

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With files from Charles Brockman.