By Mata Press Service

The electoral race to represent Burnaby South, which has been wracked by ethnic politics and divisive sexual orientation issues got a little murkier this week with a legal challenge as to who owns the name one federal party running in the by-election – The People’s Party of Canada.

Abbotsford businessman and social activist Satinder Dhillon has filed a series of legal actions in the Federal Court of Canada to “take back the name ‘People’s Party of Canada,” to which he owns the copyright.

Maxime Bernier, who lost his bid for the Conservative Party of Canada leadership, is currently registered as the leader of the People’s Party of Canada federal political party, which is fielding a candidate in this week’s Burnaby South by-election.

Dhillon, along with his party’s Chief Agent Emmet Pierce of Vancouver has filed for a judicial review of Elections Canada’s decision to give Bernier the name.

They have also filed a copyright and trademark lawsuit against Bernier and his party and are seeking an injunction to stop Bernier’s party from using the People’s Party of Canada moniker to further its political agenda.

“The by-election underway in Burnaby is the first time the other party using our name has put forward a candidate, so it was critical we file for an injunction to show Mr. Bernier and anyone in his party that we are serious,” said Dhillon.

“So far, they have ignored the cease-and-desist letter sent last month by our Chief Agent, Mr. Pierce. We are asking the courts to stop them from improperly using a party name which rightfully belongs to us before further damage is done in this by-election or any election.”

Dhillon said he first spoke in media about founding a party under that name in 2015 and registered the name a few weeks prior to Bernier.

“We are having difficulty raising funds because people are getting the parties mixed up and people do not want to support our party if we are associated with Mr. Bernier’s party,” he said.

“If Mr. Bernier and his candidates were putting forward a platform I could live with I would have considered letting

them have the name, but their brand of divisive populism just doesn’t line up with the values held by the people of Canada. I have to speak out,” Dhillon said.

Bernier’s political party is perceived as a far-right movement that is advocating for reduced immigration, a sharp reduction in foreign aid, and “decentralizing” the federal government.

His candidate in the heavily Asian-dominated riding of Burnaby South is Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson, a former co-host of a Christian television program, and a staunch anti-SOGI advocate. SOGI stands for sexual orientation and gender identity and is part of British Columbia’s education curriculum. Thompson has spoken out against SOGI education, saying it teaches “gender-fluid ideology to all children in British Columbia.”

Tyler Thompson’s platform includes lowering taxes, strengthening immigration policy and completing the Trans-Mountain pipeline project.

She said she would like to see Bill C-16 abolished — an amendment to the Canadian Human Rights Act that adds gender identity and gender expression to the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination and stop a federal motion condemning Islamophobia and all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination, according to a CBC profile.

The riding of South Burnaby is almost 40 percent ethnic Chinese, 30 percent white, eight percent South Asian, six percent Filipino and three percent Korean.

Aside from Tyler Thompson, five other candidates, have thrown their hat into the ring to represent Burnaby South in the Feb 25 by-election.

The Liberal Party of Canada candidate is Richard Lee. He took the mantle over from candidate Karen Wang, who resigned after authoring a racially-charged post on social media.

Jagmeet Singh, is the New Democrat candidate. He is also the leader of the federal NDP and is leading in the polls. The by-election is considered a test of his leadership.

Jay Shin, is the Conservative candidate while two other candidates, Terry Grimwood and Valentine Wu are running as independents.

The by-election is also being viewed as a platform for the expansion of Bernier’s policies.

For Dhillon, this is at the core of his legal challenge, in addition to the process used by Elections Canada to grant the name to Bernier.

“My vision for this party was that it would truly be for the people of Canada, a place for Canadians who support our core values of economic fairness, free speech, equal rights, justice for all and standing against racism and discrimination to cast a protest vote against the status quo,” Dhillon said.

According to the court documents, Dhillon filed the party name with Elections Canada on September 25, 2018, weeks prior to Bernier. After filing a new federal political party name, Elections Canada requires at least 250 people to confirm their support in a paper form that can be returned by regular mail or in person.

Elections Canada told Dhillon those forms must be returned to their Quebec office. Many of Dhillon’s supporters live in British Columbia, and their forms were delayed by last year’s Canada Post strike and simultaneous provincial referendum underway in B.C.

Due to Bernier’s physical proximity to Election’s Canada’s offices in Quebec, he was able to file that paperwork faster and was hastily awarded the name despite Dhillon holding its copyright and a Class 38 trademark over the name and filing for it first.

“In our view, Elections Canada erred by not taking into account delays caused by the Canada Post strike and Mr. Dhillon’s earlier initial filing and should have awarded the party name to Mr. Dhillon,” said Dhillon’s lawyer Dean Davison

“It is also significant that Mr. Bernier’s very public discussion of the party name during his application period concerned some of Mr. Dhillon’s supporters, who did not want to unintentionally sign up as a supporter of the other party. That further slowed Mr. Dhillon’s application and damaged his interests,” Davison said.

Emmet Pierce is the chief agent for Dhillon and his party.

“Currently we have over a thousand members in our party. The officers of the party and our members are demanding justice be served in this case and that we are allowed to use the name that is rightfully ours,” he said.

Bernier's office did not respond for comment by Press Time. Updates will be posted on southasianpost.com