A petition to recall Surrey-Green Timbers MLA Rachna Singh has been approved by Elections BC.
The petition was filed by Gurdeep Jassal of Surrey, according to an Elections BC news release, issued Friday (Nov. 24).
According to the release, the petition to recall Singh, who is B.C.’s education minister, will be issued on Nov. 30, and Jassal has until Jan. 29, 2024 to collect signatures from more than 40 per cent of eligible voters registered in the riding.
Amrit Birring has posted several videos on social media talking about the recall petition.
Birring is the leader of the Freedom Party of B.C., which has organized marches in Surrey as part of an ongoing campaign to “boot SOGI123 from BC Schools.”
The group has also called on Singh multiple times to resign.
In a video posted on several social media websites under the username @recallrachna, Birring said he wants Singh recalled because he believes children are being sexualized in B.C. schools “under her watch.”
Birring is said to have attempted to contact Singh numerous times to express his concerns but says there has been no response.
“This isn’t acceptable, the education minister must be accountable to parents,” reads a post on the Recall Rachna website.
READ MORE: Petition filed to recall Surrey MLA Rachna Singh
Volunteers are permitted to help Jassal when gathering signatures, but there are strict rules that canvassers must follow when collecting signatures. To be eligible to sign, the individual must be registered to vote and have been registered to vote in the Surrey-Green Timbers riding on the final voting day on which Singh was elected.
The Chief Electoral Officer at Elections BC has approved 29 recall petitions since 1995, all of which failed to meet one or more of the requirements.
This is the first time a petition to recall a Surrey MLA has been approved since the Recall and Initiative Act came into effect in 1995.
Singh’s communications people doubled down Friday, Nov. 24 with an almost identical canned statement to the one attributed to her on Nov. 7.
“My focus continues to be working hard every day to help make life better for people, and addressing issues that were ignored by Kevin Falcon and the former government for too long. Whether it’s tackling housing costs, building schools, or advancing the Surrey Hospital and Surrey Memorial expansion, the people I represent want to continue to see action on those key priorities,” the latest reads. “That’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
She has not personally replied to requests for comment.
-With files from Tom Zytaruk