Herb Dhaliwal is urging Kevin Falcon to contact Elections BC and release the "Liberal" name for use on the provincial election ballot this fall.
Dhaliwal, a former federal cabinet minister, says B.C. needs a moderate political party under the Liberal banner, now that Falcon's BC United campaign has been suspended.
The plan is to build a New Liberal Party of BC party for centrist voters not interested in "extreme" right and left policies, but Elections BC has rejected the name due to its potential to confuse voters, according to Dhaliwal, a longtime Liberal.
"We're asking Kevin Falcon to release the name Liberal by contacting Elections BC," he said Wednesday morning (Sept. 18), "so that our name could be used on the ballot, the new Liberal Party of BC, and asking him not to hold that name hostage so that British Columbians can have real choices when they go to the polls on Oct. 19."
Dhaliwal said he's hoping public pressure will force Falcon's hand to release the Liberal name.
"They were the BC Liberal Party and decided they no longer wanted that name and no longer wanted anything to do with the name Liberal," Dhaliwal charged. "That's why they changed to the BC United Party, so they effectively were not interested in that name. If they don't (release the name), publicly they will look very bad. They'll have to explain that to people then."
Dhaliwal, through lawyer Joven Narwal, has asked Elections BC to reconsider the rejection of the name.
In a letter to the agency dated Sept. 13, Narwal told elections officials that adding “not associated with BC United” or a similar phrase to the ballot could avoid “any conceivable confusion in the minds of voters.”
Elections BC communications director Andrew Watson said Tuesday that the provincial Elections Act prohibits parties from registering if the chief electoral officer believes “its name is likely to be confused with a currently registered political party, a party that has a registration application currently pending, or a party that was registered at any time during the past 10 years.”
Dhaliwal said "the clock is ticking" on a decision.
"A lot of people don't want to be going to the polls and holding their nose because they don't really have a choice that fits in with their values and their concerns," he said. "A lot of people want a choice because of what's happened with the merger of the BC United with the Conservatives, people who have a left wing and a right wing choice. They're looking for something in the middle ground and they don't have that."
-with files from The Canadian Press
