B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell says he won't be taking part in the Vaisakhi parade in Surrey, B.C., on Saturday unless organizers apologize for controversial remarks about Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh and one of his own provincial backbenchers.
Campbell was responding to reports that one of the organizers told a Punjabi-language radio station that the two Sikh politicians were not welcome at the annual parade, and would need security if they did come.
At least two complaints were made to RCMP about the comments by Inderjit Singh Bains on Sher-e-Punjab radio, but the talk show host says the comments were overblown and that Bains was only saying that Dosanjh and MLA Dave Hayer were not invited to speak at the event.
Const. Peter Neily says police are aware of the controversy and the complaints, but he says they have had a good relationship with the parade organizers and expect a peaceful community event on the weekend.
In the Thursday interview, Bains tells interviewer Gurvinder Dhaliwal that "everyone" is invited to speak on stage except Dosanjh and Hayer, and he adds that if they come they should bring their own security.
Dosanjh, who has been a vocal critic of the violence that divided the Sikh community in the 1980s, says he has never attended the parade in Surrey and had no intention of going this year.
