The chair of Community First New Westminster says the incumbent school board chair forgot about the rules when she acted as a scrutineer on the first day of advance voting.
New Westminster Police Department is investigating whether Gurveen Dhaliwal broke the Local Government Act on Oct. 5 by attending the Queensborough Community Centre voting station. Candidates must not be present at a voting place, except in order to vote. If charged and convicted, the maximum penalty is a $5,000 fine and a year in jail.
In a prepared statement, Cheryl Greenhalgh, chair of the NDP-aligned party, admitted that Dhaliwal was sworn-in as a scrutineer, but claimed that the issue had been addressed and resolved with the chief election officer, Jacque Killawee.
However, the scrutineer that witnessed Dhaliwal on-site said Killawee took no action and referred him to the New Westminster Police Department. Jason Chan, the New West Progressives campaign manager, filed a formal complaint with police on Oct. 9.
“It was a lapse of memory on Gurveen’s part that she could not be a scrutineer on behalf of another candidate,” said Greenhalgh’s statement. “Her intention was to observe the process in the voting location to provide information to other scrutineers who were volunteering with the voting process that day. She stayed at the voting location for less than an hour and left on her own accord.”
The Greenhalgh statement denied that city council candidate Ruby Campbell was aware of Dhaliwal scrutineering on her behalf because scrutineer forms are issued by the campaign team to voting day organizers.
“Gurveen deeply regrets this mistake,” said Greenhalgh’s statement, which also said Community First New Westminster has reviewed its procedures to ensure there is no repeat incident.
Neither Dhaliwal nor Campbell have responded for comment. Greenhalgh said Dhaliwal is not available for an interview.
Dhaliwal appears to have voted while at Queensborough Community Centre. She Tweeted a photo of herself wearing an “I voted” sticker at 1:09 p.m. on Oct. 5. “So proud to have voted for the @Community1stNW team!” she wrote.
Paul Minhas, a city council candidate with New West Progressives, said it was not good enough for the party chair to issue a statement. The voters deserve to hear directly from Dhaliwal and Campbell before election day on Saturday.
Campbell, Minhas said, should also step aside from the New Westminster Police Board or be removed by the Solicitor General, Mike Farnworth, during the investigation.
Chan said candidates were provided “extensive, comprehensive” handbooks on election rules and laws and this is not Dhaliwal’s first municipal election. She won a seat on school board in 2018.
“It seems strange to me that the [chief election officer] has not deemed it serious enough to action upon it,” Chan said.
In an Oct. 7 memo to candidates, Killawee said it is the candidate’s responsibility to read the relevant Acts and comply with legislation “as was noted in your nomination meeting.”
Killawee told a reporter on Oct. 11 that she immediately contacted Dhaliwal’s party, official agent and Dhaliwal herself to remind them of the law and penalties, “and to instruct the candidate to refrain from further attendance at City of New Westminster voting places, other than for the purpose of casting their vote.
“After consultation with our solicitor, no further action has been taken by this office,” she said.
A statement from New Westminster Police public information officer Sgt. Justine Thom confirmed police are investigating.
“We received a call from a member of the public relating to conduct of voting proceedings. Investigators are working to collect evidence and determine if a violation of the Local Government Act took place,” Thom said.
