Court filing claims B.C. Conservative operative exploited care home residents to make election claims
Response alleges woman working for B.C. Conservatives took advantage of vulnerable care home residents
A court filing from B.C. NDP MLA Garry Begg, in response to a lawsuit aiming to invalidate the B.C. election results in Surrey-Guildford, calls the allegation of corrupt voting baseless and accuses a woman of taking advantage of vulnerable care home residents on behalf of the B.C. Conservatives to make their election claims.
Begg's filing alleges the operative interfered with the care of a vulnerable resident at Argyll Lodge, the care home at the centre of the lawsuit, in the weeks after the election and took advantage of him and a second Punjabi-speaking resident to convince them to sign English statements related to the election.
The February 25 filing is in response to a petition from B.C. Conservative Surrey-Guildford candidate Honveer Randhawa contesting the results of the tight race in the riding, which Begg won by 22 votes.
Begg has been appointed minister of public safety and solicitor general.
In January, the Conservatives raised doubts about the results, after earlier expressing faith in the electoral process. Randhawa is asking the B.C. Supreme Court to order Begg's election invalid and declare the Surrey-Guildford seat vacant.
Randhawa claims in his court filing that multiple voting irregularities took place in the riding and that at Argyll Lodge, two residents who don't speak English and didn't request mail-in ballots were intimidated by staff to fill out the ballots.
The owner and manager of the facility has told CBC News the allegations are "absurd."
None of the claims in Randhawa's petition or Begg's response have been proven in court.
Begg's court filing describes the process undertaken by staff at Argyll Lodge to assist residents to vote by mail. It also claims staff and residents at the facility are prohibited from speaking about politics and religion.
Claims related to care home resident
Begg claims that beginning sometime around November, a woman — on behalf of the B.C. Conservative party — began to visit the facility and take two Punjabi-speaking residents on regular outings.
According to the court document, one of the residents, identified as "Resident A," lives with chronic paranoia, schizophrenia and dementia. The other, "Resident B," lives with bipolar disorder.
The filing describes the woman paying for lunches, coffee, grooming and giving them cash. She said she would move both residents to a different home and accused family members of not properly caring for them.
Family members, reportedly unaware that the woman was assisting the B.C. Conservatives in gathering information for the court case, became concerned that she was a scam artist trying to financially exploit the residents, according to Begg's response, which claims the woman eventually brought the residents to Randhawa's law office to discuss the election and sign English statements they couldn't read or understand.
Ultimately, Begg claims the woman moved Resident A out of Argyll Lodge in January without providing his son — who has power of attorney — or the facility and care team with the new address or care plan. A missing person report was filed with police, and the resident was allegedly found at Randhawa's law office.
Court documents describe him in a state of psychosis when he was located, and he was apprehended by Car 67, the mobile crisis unit. He reportedly remains hospitalized in a secure unit.
Political reaction
B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad was asked about Begg's claims at a news conference in Victoria on Thursday.
"The courts obviously will have to look at this. I mean, if I was in government, I'd be saying it's before the courts, and I can't respond to that. But look, the reality is this — we know, and it's been very, very clear that there is something that's gone on that shouldn't have gone on," said Rustad, adding that the voting process for the residents has been brought into question.
"There are serious irregularities that have happened during this election," he said.
Rustad is calling for an independent review of the election.
In late January, Elections B.C. suspended its review of Randhawa's complaint, pending the B.C. Supreme Court case, in which Chief Electoral Officer Anton Boegman is a respondent.
Ravi Kahlon, the minister of housing and municipal affairs, was also asked about the Surrey-Guildford election case on Thursday.
"John Rustad has been using this Trump-style playbook to dispute an election that he lost, and he's using innocent people's lives as collateral for his ambitions," said Kahlon.