A former Conservative party candidate, now running as an independent, is facing criticism for continuing to present himself in a manner that some say closely resembles official Conservative branding and may mislead some voters.
Lourence Singh, the former Conservative party candidate for the New Westminster—Burnaby—Maillardville riding, was ditched by the party weeks ago. Although the party didn’t offer a direct explanation, media reports suggest Singh made comments praising the Chinese government and downplaying the internment of minorities in China.
“What the Chinese government is saying, they’re trying to educate people not to have radical views,” said Singh while speaking on the internment of China’s Uyghur population in Xinjiang.
“And because it’s a poor region, they’re trying to give them skills to have jobs, like if they can be a server, a hostess, you know, enter various jobs… not to have radicalized thoughts.”
Singh’s comments echoed official CCP talking points when attempting to brush off the treatment of minorities.
Since his departure from the party, Singh has continued to use campaign materials that share strong visual and thematic similarities with official Conservative branding—a decision that some local residents and political commentators say may be contributing to confusion among voters.
According to some living in the riding, Lourence Singh is deliberately misleading and confusing voters by tacitly misrepresenting himself as the Conservative candidate—sometimes explicitly.
For example, Singh allegedly sent emails to the Conservative party’s membership list without authorization. Members affected say they never consented to receiving communications from Lourence’s independent campaign nor did they provide him with any of their information.
“Many voters have expressed confusion over the candidate’s true identity, to us via email and phone,” said a spokesperson for the Conservative campaign headquarters in the riding.
Local resident Ben Gill, for example, reached out to the office to express his confusion over which candidate was representing the Conservative party in his riding.
“I’m only now just discovering that you’re the Conservative candidate because I saw one of your signs and received a few of your emails – and I confirmed on the Elections Canada website,” Gill said in his email.
“But I keep seeing a bunch of signs of Lourence Singh’s with the ‘Conservative’ logo and brand on there. A few days ago I received an email from him too, saying he was contacting me because I’m a Conservative member. This has confused me and my family. It has made it difficult to find out who the real conservative candidate is.”
Although Singh has identified himself as an independent candidate in videos posted to social media, the style of Singh’s campaign branding likewise shares a striking resemblance to that of the federal Conservatives.
For instance, Lourence’s new materials such as signs, emails, and literature use identical slogans to the Conservative party, such as “Conservative” and “CommonpSense.”
Lourence’s new branding materials also use the Conservative party’s identical branding colour and font type, and some of his campaign literature continues to include pictures of himself alongside Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
This has left many in the riding confused about who the true Conservative candidate is.
Bryan Breguet, an economist at Langara College who has been providing electoral analysis and projections to various media organizations since 2011, said of Singh’s activities:
“While I cannot comment on the legal aspect, the conduct here verges on voter suppression in principle and in practice. It’s a highly misleading means to run a campaign, which is evidently aimed at confusing voters.”
“If it succeeds in causing voters to unintentionally vote for a candidate which belongs to the party which they did not intend or wish to vote to, this could certainly be a form of voter suppression. Beyond the legal aspect, what’s clear is this is anti-democratic behaviour that shouldn’t be tolerated,” Breguet continued.
True North reached out directly to Lourence Singh for comment but received no response.