B.C. United missteps divide Muslim community, strategist claims

A former B.C. United strategist saysthe party made a major misstep by tapping, then dropping, the head of the B.C. Muslim Association as a candidate in a key Surrey riding.

Asad Gondal was dropped by B.C. United three days after he was introduced byLeader Kevin Falcon as the candidate for Surrey North. It came after online backlash to some of Gondal's previous statements on the war in Gaza and on 2SLGBTQ+ issues.

Kareem Allam, a Vancouver-based political strategist who previously worked on Falcon's leadership campaign in 2022, said the party viewed Gondal as a way to win support from the Muslim community.

However, Allam said Gondal's "extreme" views do not reflect the entire community.

"It's painful because, for moderate Muslims like me, we're trying to break from that Sharia law viewpoint."

Now, by droppingGondal as a candidate, the party has angered and divided the Muslim community, Allam said.

It also raises questions about Falcon's leadership and leaves the party scrambling to find a new candidate in Surrey North.

Gondal stood beside Falcon in Surrey on Sunday as he was introduced as a strong Muslim leader to represent the party.

Now, Falcon is distancing himself from Gondal, saying his views are inconsistent with the party's values.

Gondal was among those who signed a lettersent by the B.C. Muslim Association in October, which called the war in Gaza a genocide.Falcon was under pressure from the Jewish community to remove Gondal for those comments.

Nico Slobinsky, the director of B.C. branch of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, wrote on X on Monday that"the use of the term [genocide]in relation to the Israeli-Hamas conflict is inaccurate and diminishes recognized acts of genocide."

Gondal also signed a five-page statement issued last year by the B.C. Muslim Association on "issues relating to gender and sexuality".

The statement endorses "fundamental and immutable principles" that oppose same-sex marriage and sex outside of marriage and support a view that there are only two genders.

"It is sinful, prohibited and morally reprehensible for an individual to undergo any procedure to change his or her sex," the letter said. The statement also said the association doesn't condone discrimination or abuse and expects equal tolerance of its own views under its constitutionally protected rights.

Gondal was not available for an interview on Wednesday. He said in a statement posted to Facebook that B.C. United was aware of his position on both high-profile issues before he was selected as a candidate.

He said the past few days have been challenging for him and his family and he never anticipated being marginalized and ridiculed for his beliefs.

Gondal said the party pressured him to change his views on the 2SLGBTQ+ community.

"My stance was never about hate or discrimination; it was rooted in a concern for our children," Gondal wrote, going on to express his concern about sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) education in schools.

"The SOGI curriculum being introduced in elementary schools without parental consent was a policy our community opposed," he wrote. "I will never compromise my core values for anyone, especially not for political expediency. My principles and my Islamic beliefs are non-negotiable."

Falcon stood behind Gondal for three days, even as the issue exposed infighting within the party as B.C. United candidates pressured him to take action.

Caroline Elliott, B.C. United candidate for North Vancouver posted a letter to social media on Tuesday calling on the party to replace Gondal.

"While I have long defended free speech there is a role for political parties to select candidates based on the degree to which they align with the party's principles," said Elliott, the party's former vice-president and Falcon's sister-in-law.

Falcon was not available for an interview on Wednesday. He said in a statement that he terminated Gondal because his views did not align with the party's values.

WATCH: B.C. United MLA says party morale is 'extremely good':

B.C. United MLA says party morale is 'extremely good'

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Ian Paton, B.C. United MLA for Delta South, says despite recent MLA defections to the B.C. Conservatives, the party still has talented people who will work throughout the summer to develop policy ideas.

Hamish Telford, a political scientist for the University of the Fraser Valley, said while Gondal represents an important minority community, his views were too out of line with B.C. United.

"His view around the Israel conflict with Gaza as well as his perspective on same-sex marriage, I think just made him too toxic for the party. Particularly when B.C. United's strategy is to go after the B.C. Conservatives on those sorts of issues. It was inevitable that Mr. Gondal was going to be a sacrificial lamb here."

This is the first candidate that B.C. United has had to drop. Itleaves the party scrambling for a new candidate for Surrey North four months beforethe provincial election.

Surrey is a key battleground riding. Ten seats are up for grabs, seven of which are held by NDP incumbents. The election is set for Oct. 19.

The B.C. Conservatives have lost three candidates due to controversial social media comments.

The most recent was Damon Scrase, the former candidate for Courtenay-Comox, who resigned following social media posts which said Pride parades have become places where "perverts" expose themselves to children.

The party also dropped Jan Webb in the Esquimalt-Colwood riding for claiming that vaccinated people spread COVID-19. Denman Island doctor Stephen Malthouse was removed as a candidate for claiming that COVID-19 vaccines make a person magnetic.