Incumbent Richmond city councilor Bill McNulty has hit out at a rival slate for what he branded “cheap, political point-scoring” tactics.
The veteran councilor, who runs with the Richmond First slate, rubbished the rival Richmond Citizens’ Association (RCA) after it released on Friday the results of a recent Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the B.C. government.
The FOI revealed that, despite Richmond First’s assertions to the contrary, it was RCA’s petition in February – pushing for the province to move quicker on the new Richmond Hospital tower – that was the only document officially received by the Ministry of Health.
Richmond First, including McNulty, Derek Dang and Linda McPhail, had previously kicked off its own hospital tower petition on Change.org, garnering more than 2,200 signatures.
And the slate - apparently believing it was their petition which had sparked Premier John Horgan into announcing in March the next stage of funding for the hospital tower – has since been claiming kudos on its Facebook page.
Despite the content of the FOI, McNulty told the Richmond News that Richmond First’s petition was emailed to the premier earlier this year.
“The RCA came late to the game; I’ve been on this push since November, 2015, when I was interviewed by CBC,” said McNulty.
“We started the petition in good faith and, as far as we were concerned, it was sent on to the government.
“It shouldn’t matter who gets credit for pushing the government; what matters is that the hospital gets a new tower for the people of Richmond, as soon as possible.
“The RCA is using this to try to score cheap political points.”
At a press conference on Friday outside the hospital’s emergency entrance, RCA’s Kelly Greene, Jack Trovato and Judie Schneider spoke of the “apparent deception of a…petition circulated by Richmond First Voters Society.”
The Richmond First petition, according to the RCA, was posted to Facebook in November 2017, and in February 2018, the petition gained considerable media attention, with Richmond First candidates McNulty, McPhail, Dang, Peter Liu, Elsa Wong, and Andy Hobbs featured.
On Feb. 15, 2018, the RCA submitted its own petition to the Ministry of Health.
The RCA said it only received the results of the FOI last week and felt duty bound to share it with the voting public.
“Why would Richmond First declare “Victory!” on their change.org petition?” the RCA questioned.
“Will Richmond First provide an explanation to the residents who signed the petition in good faith as to what they did with said petition?”
