Controversial Conservative candidates targeted by NDP win seats

Several B.C. Conservative candidates that were consistently targeted by the rival B.C. NDP for their past social media statements and behaviour — with the NDP making efforts to paint them as racist or endorsing conspiracy theories — have won their seats in the 2024 election, CBC News has declared.

Throughout the provincial election campaign, NDP leader David Eby had targeted Conservative Leader John Rustad and a number of his candidates, with Eby's main line of attack during the leaders' televised debate being to paint his opponents as conspiracy theorists who would cut government programs and provide tax cuts to the rich and powerful.

The NDP had primarily used past comments on social media to unearth a number of controversial views from Conservative candidates — from anti-Palestinian racism, to comments about Indigenous peoples' incarceration rates and the alleged denial of the Jan. 6, 2021, riots by pro-Donald Trump supporters in Washington, D.C.

Before the candidate nomination deadline, the NDP had even released a list of seven Conservative candidates that the party charged with having "extreme and dangerous views."

Front Burner24:19Conspiracies, controversies, and B.C’s election drama

Tomorrow, British Columbians head to the polls in a provincial election that’s seen plenty of twists and turns. There was the collapse of the B.C. United party, formerly the B.C Liberal party, which really opened the door for the further rise of the B.C. Conservative Party, and its leader John Rustad. Rustad, who’s running to be premier of B.C., is in a tight race with sitting B.C. NDP premier David Eby. Controversial and conspiracy-laden comments by Rustad himself, and a number of his candidates have taken up a lot of oxygen. CBC’s B.C. provincial affairs reporter Katie Derosa joins host Jayme Poisson to sort through all the political drama. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts [https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts]

But Conservative Leader John Rustad had consistently resisted calls to drop the controversial candidates, and said he would let voters decide on whether to send them to the Legislature.

"David Eby wants to talk about conspiracy theories because he cannot defend his government's policies," Rustad said at the televised debate on Oct. 8.

Series of controversial views

Beyond the NDP's efforts to paint Rustad as a conspiracy theorist — from releasing videos about him wanting to put health officials on trial and regretting getting COVID-19 shots — they also focused on a number of other Tory candidates throughout the campaign period.

One of the most high-profile ones was Surrey South candidate Brent Chapman, who had to apologize for posts called out as being racist towards Palestinians and denying the existence of mass shootings. On Saturday night CBC declared that he had comfortably won his seat in the Metro Vancouver suburb.

Past social media comments became a regular target for the NDP. Chris Sankey, the North Coast-Haida Gwaii candidate, was targeted for allegedly saying that COVID-19 vaccines caused AIDS and denying the Jan. 6, 2021, riots by Donald Trump supporters.

Sankey's campaign manager had told The Canadian Press in a written statement that  the B.C. NDP are "are trying to cancel me," but he did not address questions about whether he believes vaccines cause AIDS. CBC has declared he will lose his seat in northern B.C. to the NDP's Tamara Davidson.

Another candidate that was targeted regularly by the NDP was Bryan Breguet, who ran in the Vancouver-Langara riding. Breguet came under fire for questioning whether there were biases against Indigenous people, who have a higher incarceration rate in Canada. As of 12:15 a.m. PT on Sunday, the race in that riding was too close to call, and it's unclear whether Breguet will win his riding. 

It wasn't just past social media that the NDP focused on to paint their opponents as conspiracy theorists.

Jody Toor, who ran in the Langley-Willowbrook riding, came under fire from her opponents for presenting herself as an MD despite not having medical credentials — something that the Hospital Employees' Union, which endorsed the NDP, said it would file a formal complaint over.

Toor has been declared the winner in her Fraser Valley riding.

Shachi Kurl, the president of the Angus Reid Institute, said that pundits and analysts had thought the raft of controversial, and sometimes racist, comments from the Conservatives would have cost them.

But Kurl said that the overall results of the election, which saw the NDP concede significant ground to the upstart Conservatives, showed that the strategy of mudslinging at their opponents may not have paid off.

"I think voters have showed us tonight that they priced that [controversial comments] in to the cost of their vote when making up their minds," she said.