Jagmeet Singh is speaking out against "politics that divide communities" after his Liberal opponent in Burnaby South dropped out of the upcoming byelection over a race-related social media post.
Hours after Liberal candidate Karen Wang announced she was quitting the campaign, Singh told CTV News he was surprised to see racial issues come up in the riding.
"To be honest with you, I did not expect race to be a concern – this is one of the most diverse communities in Canada," Singh said.
The post that landed Wang in hot water was published on the social media platform WeChat. She wrote that "as the only Chinese candidate in this riding, if I can garner 16,000 votes I will easily win … my opponent is the NDP candidate Singh of Indian descent," according to a translation published in StarMetro Vancouver.
Richard Johnston, a political science professor from the University of British Columbia, said Wang's post appeared to be the work of a rookie candidate.
"It's true demographically that there's a much larger East Asian and Chinese share of the riding than South Asian, but why say it?" Johnston said. "It was a stupid and amateurish thing to say."
On Wednesday, Wang bowed out of the race. Her campaign office was locked and appeared deserted when CTV News visited, but she released a statement apologizing to her former opponent.
"I made comments online that … referenced Jagmeet Singh's cultural background. My choice of words wasn't well-considered and didn't reflect my intent, and for that, I sincerely apologize to Mr. Singh," she wrote.
Singh said he didn't take the comment personally, but reiterated that he's opposed to "divisive politics."
"I am concerned with politics that divide communities, that pit one against another. I feel like there's too much of that," he said.
It's unclear whether the Liberals will nominate another candidate to run against Singh and Conservative hopeful Jay Shin in the Feb. 25 byelection.
With files from CTV Vancouver's Shannon Paterson
