White Rock councillor and business owner Ernie Klassen won’t be seeking provincial office as independent candidate — but he is seeking an accounting for money he is owed by the BC United Party.
Klassen was BC United’s MLA candidate for Surrey South for a scant 20 days before leader Kevin Falcon’s bombshell announcement on Aug. 28 that he was suspending the party’s campaign in the upcoming election — and encouraging party candidates to run under the Conservative banner.
That was not a path Klassen — who is also White Rock Pride Society past president — wanted to take, he said.
“Although I had a lot of people asking me if I would run as an independent — and a few people who were prepared to help me — I didn’t feel I had enough time to pull that together,” he said. (Brent Chapman continues as the Conservative candidate for Surrey South, contesting the riding with the NDP’s Haroon Ghaffar.)
But Klassen, who was taking a brief vacation in Mexico when Falcon made the announcement, said he and other former BC United candidates are still out-of-pocket for already-incurred campaign expenses, for which they were supposed to be reimbursed by the party.
“We’ve been keeping in touch with each other, and there’s a whole group of us that are still owed money,” Klassen told Peace Arch News.
“I’m asking that there be an audit so we can find out what happened to the money. Nobody seems to be able to give us answers. The only thing we’re hearing is that it’s ‘unforeseen’ and that ‘it never happened before.’ The whole party seems to be in chaos.”
Reached by Peace Arch News, BC United deputy campaign manager Adam Wilson said Wednesday that the party is working on the issue.
“We are currently working through all the expenses provided to us by our candidates, and working with Elections BC to understand how reporting will work, prior to providing reimbursements,” Wilson said.
The irony of his situation, Klassen acknowledges, is that he had been actively courted by BC United for a long time before he ultimately announced his candidacy in early August.
“I kept saying no, and then I finally said yes,” he noted.
An Aug. 7 media release from the party touted Klassen as a “well-respected White Rock city councillor” who brought “a wealth of experience from the public and private sectors to the team.”
Klassen said that, while there is still talk of running a few candidates to keep the party alive, “I don’t know who in their right mind would vote for BC United, now.”
He said, however, he remains a believer in the “BC United philosophy” — particularly in offering “a middle-of-the-road alternative for local voters.
“I don't believe it’s in the best interest of British Columbians to have a two-party system,” he said. “I will help to rebuild a middle-of-the-road party, whatever it ends up being called. That’s where my philosophy is situated in the political world.”
