屡教不改，联邦大选选区提名再出丑闻

当我们刚刚把2018年安省大选中一些“不按规定”进行选区提名，并剥夺了这些违规候选人的选举资格的事件处理完毕，以为大家都会引以为戒时，同样的问题又发生在联邦大选的选区提名上。

Just when we thought we have handled a number of “irregular” riding nominations back in the 2018 Ontario provincial election resulting in the removal of elected candidates and learned a lesson from it, the same controversies raised its ugly head in yet another nomination event for the upcoming Federal election.



最近，Dufferin-Caledon联邦保守党提名人Harzadan Singh Khattra被取消了选区的保守党联邦候选人资格。在联邦保守党选区候选人选拔委员会（NCSC）取消了他参选的资格后，Khattra先生向联邦保守党全国委员会提出上诉。全国委员会驳回他的上诉。

Recently, Dufferin-Caledon Conservative nominee Harzadan Singh Khattra was removed as the local MP candidate. Mr. Khattra appealed to the Conservative Party National Council after the National Candidate Selection Committee (NCSC) made the determination to disallow his candidacy. The National Council subsequently ruled that the original decision be upheld.



Harzadan Singh Khattra现年26岁，出生于布兰普顿。他曾就读于圣卢西亚的医学院并在芝加哥完成临床实习。由于他的医学学位不被加拿大和安省承认，导致他无法在加拿大行医。虽然他一直在帮助打点家里的出租车生意，但他没有从政的经历。

Harzadan Singh Khattra is a 26-year-old who was born in Brampton. He attended medical school in St. Lucia and did his clinical clerkship in Chicago but his medical degree does not allow him to practice in Ontario or Canada as it was received in another country. While helping out with the family's taxi business, he has no political experience.

当Dufferin-Caledon选区联邦议员David Tilson宣布他不参加2019年大选后，该选区在2019年3月19日开始了保守党党内的提名选举。提名选举结果是Khattra轻易地战胜了对手Kevin Weatherbee，前Caledon区议员Barb Shaughnessy，前Orangeville市长Jeremy Williams。在第一轮投票中，Khattra获得了约1,700张选票中的900张，并在最后一轮投票中以852票击败了得票675张的Kevin Weatherbee。
 
When Dufferin-Caledon MP David Tilson announced he would not seek the nomination again in 2018, his action opened up the nomination process for the riding on March 19, 2019. The result of that contest indicated that Khattra easily won the nomination over Kevin Weatherbee, former Caledon Regional Councillor Barb Shaughnessy and former Orangeville Mayor Jeremy Williams. Khattra secured nearly 900 votes from a voting block of approximately 1,700 in each round of voting and won with 852 to second place Kevin Weatherbee’s 675 in the final round.



一份未经确认的报告指出，该选区有3,800注册党员，但当天只有1,771人投票，投票率约为46.6％。根据我自己参加这些提名投票的经验，这是一个非常高的投票率。

An unconfirmed report states that out of 3,800 members, 1,771 cast a vote, and the turnout was approximately 46.6 per cent. This is a very high turnout rate from my own experience with the attendances at these nomination meetings.

投票结束后，社交媒体上立即有人指控，说Khattra在一个挤满了的房间，组织大批支持者参加投票。

Immediately after the meeting, accusations were posted on social media of a stacked room, and Khattra possibly organizing large groups of supporters to be at the meeting.



提名结束后第5天，Barb Shaughnessy提出上诉。在一份新闻公告中，她声称自己已经向保守党递送了有关购买党票，投票作弊和其他可以验证的问题。 Barb Shaughnessy解释说，她之所以对Khattra的提名选举结果提出了上诉，是因为许多党员认为该选区提名选举被做了“手脚”。

Within 5 days of the nomination meeting councillor Barb Shaughnessy filed an appeal. She sent out a media release on the appeal stating that she had sent the party verifiable information about membership buying, improper voting and other concerns. Barb Shaughnessy explained she appealed Khattra’s nomination because many members felt the riding had been “high jacked.”



Shaughnessy还听到了很多“篡改投票党员的身份和居住地址，报销党员年费，甚至支付外国学生参加投票”的指控。她称这些指控很严重，不能置之不理。她称自己的团队有足够的证据来证明该选区的提名无效。
 
Shaughnessy has heard “widespread allegations of identity and residence tampering, membership reimbursement, and even payments to foreign students for attending the meeting.” She calls these serious allegations that cannot be ignored and states that her group has sufficient sworn evidence to set aside the nomination meeting results in their entirety.

Shaughnessy在公告中称：“提名规则明确规定你必须是加拿大公民或永久居民，并且在选区居住才有资格投票。国际学生没有资格成为党员并投票。 普通人很难调查/证明这些指控。 ”

Shaughnessy claimed: “The rules clearly state you must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, and reside in the riding,” she continued in her release. “International students do not qualify to become members and vote. It is very difficult for 'normal' people to investigate/prove allegations.”


 
如今，该选区的保守党候选人被除名，但联邦保守党没有立即回答谁将在2019年10月21日举行的联邦选举中代表保守党出战，是任命或重新选候选人。根据党规，要么是提名得票第二的候选人将被指定为候选人，要么是重新进行提名选举。目前还不知道Khattra是否有资格参加新的提名选举。

Now that the elected candidate is removed, there is no immediate response from the Progressive Conservative party as to what will happen moving forward to appoint or to elect a new candidate in preparation for the upcoming Federal election on Oct 21, 2019. In accordance with Party rules, either the second-place finisher is appointed, or they move to an open nomination. There is no clear indication if Khattra will be qualified to run in that open nomination.



在过去的十年中，加拿大政治候选人的选择主要集中在族裔候选人身上，因为在许多选区内，同一族裔的选民比较集中。加拿大各政党都在“包容性”和“多样性”的大旗下实施这一目标，而实际上各政党是在利用社区内知名度高的少数民族候选人，让自己更容易获得族裔选票。

Over the last decade, Canada's selection of political election candidates have focused on heritage based nominees due to a concentration of enclaves within many riding boundaries. Major political parties are all guilty of practising this under the banners of “inclusiveness” and “diversity” when in effect they are taking advantage of ethnic candidates with name recognition within their own communities and the ease of gaining support from their heritage electorate.



虽然许多族裔组织支持自己的“族裔候选人”，但有些组织用比较激进的手段让自己支持的候选人胜出。在上一次安省选举中，媒体揭露了泰米尔人和锡克教徒在选举中做手脚的问题。

While many ethnic groups are involved in organizing their “heritage nominee” to become election candidates, some are more aggressive than others. In the last Ontario provincial election, newspapers reported “irregular” nomination events organized by Tamils and Sikhs election brokers (organizers).



在选举方面，一些外国政府也会试图支持他们的“看中”的候选人当选。他们通过许多非营利组织（实际上是为此目的设立的空壳组织）给自己的候选人提供资金。这些候选人可以钻选举费用的法律漏洞，同时通过组织的成员和志愿者给自己的候选人拉票。这种情况在上一次联邦大选的GTA选区中发生，这些外国政府的努力有的达到了目的，有的却没有。

When it comes to elections, some foreign countries will also try to get their “preferred” candidates elected. Using monies funded externally through many non-profit organizations (actually shell organizations set up for this purpose), these candidates can then skirt the election expense laws and gain advantage through the organization's networks of members and volunteers at the same time. Such attempts actually happened in the last Federal election within the GTA with mixed results.



加拿大选举委员会声称他们对各政党如何在选区内选出候选人没有司法管理权限。 因此，要靠各政党自己，选区管理人员和党员们来监督和处理提名的违规问题。这些措施包括党魁可以取消候选人的提名资格，或由党魁酌情任命候选人。

Elections Canada claimed to have no jurisdiction over the election process when it comes to the selection of candidates within political parties. It is therefore up to the parties themselves, the executives, and the members to police and deal with these and other irregularities. Remedies must include and cover the disqualification of candidates by the leader of the political party and the appointment of candidates at the discretion of the leader.

为了解决党内候选人选举过程中的问题，公众应该游说加拿大选举委员会将其监督范围扩大到党内提名。 如果做不到这一点，党内选区提名就没法做到公正，公众就无法选出为所有选民服务的候选人。 结候选人只为自己的族裔群体服务，并成为外国政府的喉舌。

To effect changes to the political candidate selection process, the public should lobby Elections Canada to extend its monitoring to the nomination of candidates. Without that, the influence on election results cannot be neutralized and the public will not have representatives that work for all constituents within the electoral district. The election of heritage candidates that will only serve their ethnic groups and working as mouthpieces for their country of origin will continue.