Wendy Yuan, who was seeking the federal Liberal nomination for Steveston-Richmond East, alleges a Liberal Party insider blocked her nomination.DARRYL DYCK/The Globe and Mail
The official tasked with overseeing the membership of the federal Liberals in British Columbia has resigned after party brass halted a bid for a nomination that he was chairing.
Mike Hillman, who first joined the party in 1968, said he resigned as membership chair of the party's B.C. arm on Tuesday because barring former two-time Liberal candidate Wendy Yuan from running was contrary to the wishes of the party faithful in the new riding of Steveston-Richmond East.
Over the weekend, Ms. Yuan was disqualified as a nominee, with the party telling reporters "some serious issues prevented" her from being approved as a candidate. Instead, the party announced it would acclaim former Richmond MP Joe Peschisolido at a meeting Tuesday evening.
Mr. Hillman, who also chaired two campaigns that Ms. Yuan lost as a Liberal candidate in Vancouver Kingsway, said he found it "unbelievable" she wasn't allowed to contest the nomination this time around and he has "reacted accordingly."
"It's a statement for all our membership and all of our people to always make sure that members have a key and very important role to play in our party," he said of his resignation.
Ms. Yuan has quit her position as policy chair in the local riding association, along with her spokesman and riding communications chair Sunny Chiu. Five other executive members, including president Peter Xie, also resigned. Mr. Xie and two other members were on vacation and unaware of the unfolding controversy.
Mr. Xie, a card-carrying Liberal for the past 15 years, said Ms. Yuan's campaign team had signed up 2,500 to 3,000 of the riding's roughly 4,000 registered members. He said Mr. Peschisolido's team had led about 1,000 people to join the riding association.
Mr. Xie said he hopes his resignation and those of the other executive members act as a wake-up call to the leadership in Ottawa that they should heed party Leader Justin Trudeau's stated commitment to transparent, open nomination processes.
"We have two potential candidates. I think we should let the members decide who's going to run for the next election," Mr. Xie said Tuesday afternoon. "It is very disappointing. We all know that Liberals are not very strong in B.C. and we always look at this riding as a totally winnable riding.
"And so when this happened, I'm not too sure what's going to happen with this riding – I think we upset quite a few people."
Liberal Party spokesman Olivier Duchesneau said Tuesday, "We respect the decision of the [resigning] members, but we stand by the decision of the green-light committee [to disqualify Ms. Yuan from running]."
Ms. Yuan claims she was ousted by a party insider with a vendetta. She produced a sworn affidavit from a Liberal Party member that alleged former cabinet minister Raymond Chan had promised last May that Ms. Yuan would soon be disqualified. Mr. Chan, who won four elections in the Vancouver suburb, could not be reached for comment Monday or Tuesday.
Ms. Yuan, who did not return a request for an interview Tuesday, issued a statement Monday night saying her "life is an open book" and that her application was spotless.
Mike Hager