MLA Hon Chan. (Image: BC Conservative Party)
THE WORLD OF provincial politics was shocked by news that BC Conservative MLA Hon Chan has been charged charged with assault, assault by choking and uttering threats. Following the information becoming known, interim party leader Trevor Halford immediately removed Chan as an MLA for the party.
That was definitely the right thing to do.
The NDP, however, have seized on this story as their MLAs and supporters have gone on the attack asking when the party knew about it, as if inferring they had ignored it, and also saying that Halford hadn’t gone far enough, and should have demanded Chan resign his seat.
Now let me just say, at the outset, these are serious allegations, and if they end up being true, they will potentially reflect on the Conservative party.
That said, allegations of wrongdoing, as well as charges of criminality, haven’t escaped the BC NDP. And like the old saying goes, those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
While the NDP puff up with self-righteousness over the incident, and continue with their holier-than-thou social media campaign, who can forget these events:
- high taxpayer-funded expenditures, including $3,900 for an NDP minister’s “happy hour” in Amsterdam in June 2025. (Canadian Taxpayers Federation)
- Brenda Bailey charged taxpayers for a $6,645 limousine service bill during a four-day trip to Boston in 2023. (Canadian Taxpayers Federation)
- from Jan. 1, 2024, to Sept. 2, 2025, almost 400 gift cards totaling about $15,000 were handed out to bureaucrats and volunteers, and some exceeded the $100 limit. (Times Colonist – February 2026)
- In 1995, multiple women, including former staff members, accused Robert Blencoe of sexual harassment … Premier Mike Harcourt removed Blencoe from Cabinet and kicked him out of the NDP caucus. (CBC News – January 2001)
- March came in badly for NDP Premier Mike Harcourt – and April promises to be at least as cruel. Almost since the beginning of the year the party that won power in 1991 promising an end to “playing favorites with political friends and insiders” has been on the defensive about its own ethics. (Maclean’s Magazine, April 3, 1995)
- NDP forced to admit its opponents got it right on kickback allegations – says it got new information on kickback allegations. Likely that was advice on looming political damage. (Maclean’s Magazine — April 3, 1995)
- The BC government has ordered the auditor general to investigate MNP, a private accounting company it hired to administer clean technology grants on its behalf. The investigation follows allegations of a conflict of interest with MNP allegedly acting as both grant writer and administrator for a grant program. (CBC News – April 2004)
- On March 2, 1999, the RCMP raided Premier Glenn Clark’s home, an event that became the defining image of his administration. Clark resigned on August 21, 1999, shortly after being informed he was under criminal investigation. (The Tyee, Dubious moments in BC’s political history, May 2013)
- It’s been a tough few weeks politically for Premier David Eby and his government. From alleged kickbacks to leaked memo about drug use in northern BC hospitals. (Global News – April 2024)
- Of all the tawdry, underhanded and despicable things politicians have got up to in this province, it is hard to match anything as low-down dirty as the affair known as Bingogate. The NDP, a party which professes a belief in social justice, was found to have been skimming hundreds of thousands of dollars from charities over a 20-year period. (The Tyee, Dubious moments in BC’s political history, April 2013)
And, of course, the BC NDP has recently gone about reducing financial transparency as well as the dismantling of the merit commissioner’s office.
Again, the Chan allegations are a serious issue, the truth of which will ultimately be decided in court. Regardless, the NDP attempting to capitalize on it, for political gain, is in my opinion, disgusting.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
we need to know more indeed. Mr. Chan could’ve been caught in a temporary lack of reason because he was pushed to the brink…it is unfortunate but it happens…expect for the NDP of course with the “holier than Thou” attitude which of course we know is an inhumane way of thinking. People make mistakes in a bind, in a fraction of a second, when pushed. Let the investigation continue and let any naysayer show their wickedness.
LikeLike
It is doubtful that anyone who is old enough to remember, will believe any of the parties as to which party was a bit loose with ethics and the truth.
LikeLike
as if the Conservatives wouldn’t do or haven’t done the very same thing. I hope your disgust is the same for both parties.
LikeLike
Mr. Forseth, spare us the dusty proverb. Yes, the NDP has had its share of ethical lapses some indefensible, some decades old. No one serious denies that. But let’s stop the childish “what about you?” game.
Hon Chan, your party’s freshly minted MLA, stands charged with assault by choking and uttering threats. That is not a questionable expense claim, a gift-card over-limit, or a 1995 scandal. That is one human being allegedly grabbing another by the throat. It is violence. It is the kind of allegation that ends careers and destroys families.
And your interim leader’s only move removing Chan from the party is the absolute minimum required, not some profile in courage.
The BC Conservatives ran on being the fresh, clean alternative to “the tired old NDP.” Instead, in their scramble for power, they grabbed onto anyone who walked on two legs without proper vetting.
Carpetbaggers, opportunists, and now an alleged violent offender slipped straight onto the ballot. That is not governance. That is recklessness dressed up as populism.
You want to talk glass houses? Fine. But when one side’s “stone” is a $6,645 limo receipt and the other side’s is a choking charge, the moral equivalence collapses. One is sloppy stewardship of public money. The other is physical harm. Pretending they weigh the same is not “balance.” It is deflection.
British Columbians are exhausted by this race to the bottom. We don’t need another round of “they did it too.”
We need parties that vet their candidates, enforce standards, and most of all talk about policy instead of pointing fingers across the aisle.
If the Conservatives truly believe they are better than the NDP, then prove it. Stop hiding behind thirty-year-old scandals which are pages long on your side, and start showing voters they can trust you with power.
Because right now, the only thing “shocking” about this story is how quickly your party’s “new era” turned into the same old mud-slinging. The people of British Columbia deserve better than both parties’ worst instincts. Time to raise the bar or get out of the way.
LikeLike
Shall we deflect attention away from an assault allegation by going back to the dawn of time and publish a list of every BC “conservative” MLA misdeed (whether Social Credit, Liberal, BC United etc)?
Give me a break, going back 30 years is nonsense. The “what about” avoidance and misdirection crap needs to stop.
LikeLike