Amid nomination controversy, Brampton MPP quits NDP

Amid nomination controversy, Brampton MPP quits NDP

In a major turn of events, Kevin Yarde, the first Black Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) in Peel Region, has quit the New Democratic Party (NDP) amid claims that the party sandbagged him in a contested nomination race for the provincial election that is scheduled to be held on June 2.

While talking to a media organisation, he said that he was not informed by the party that there was a challenger for the nomination until March 17. Notably, the deadline for signing up new members eligible to vote in the contest was March 8.

“It was way too late to sign up additional people,” Yarde said in an interview with a media organisation, adding that “There’s nothing you can do.”

Thus, challenger Sandeep Singh won the race and the right to run for the party on June 2 provincial election. Sandeep won the race on April 7 after three days of online voting.

New Democrat MPP Rima Berns-McGown (Beaches—East York) tweeted, "If we are a team, then we support and lift each other up. If we don’t, there’s a deep systemic and structural problem."

Meanwhile, Kevin Yarde said he has decided to leave the NDP “on principle” with less than two weeks until the provincial campaign officially begins. However, he is not yet determined if he will run as an Independent.

“I was disappointed by how everything went and surprised by the way things turned out,” he said.