Community Reacts! Brampton North MPP Kevin Yarde ousted at an NDP nomination meeting

BY PAUL JUNOR

The news that well-known and popular Brampton North MPP Kevin Yarde was ousted at an NDP nomination meeting on Friday, April 8th, 2022, caught many people by surprise.

MPP Yarde won the seat to represent Brampton North in the 2018 provincial election with 14,877 votes of 39,624 total votes which translates to 37.55% of the votes. He won by less than 500 votes, compared to Ripudaman Dhillion who received 14,380 votes or 26.29%.

Brampton North covers the areas from Bramalea-Gore-Malton, Brampton-Springdale, and Brampton West. There have been many speculations as to why the nomination was conducted. With the Ontario provincial election scheduled for Thursday, June 2^nd, 2022, and thus less than two months ago, Sandeep Singh who won the nomination battle will have a lot of work to do. Singh mentioned that he won 88% of the vote in the nomination process. The NDP currently holds three seats while the Conservatives hold two sets in the Brampton ridings.

MPP Yarde has been an active part of the Black Caucus since he was elected. The other members are; Dr. Jill Andrew, Toronto-St. Paul’s MPP, Dr. Rima Bems-McGown, Beaches-East York, MPP, Dr. Laura Mae Lindo, Kitchener Centre, MPP and Faisal Hassan, York South-Weston, MPP.

There have been diverse reactions to the removal of MPP Yarde as the Brampton North NDP candidate for the upcoming provincial election. Idris Orughu, community organizer and social commentator tweeted on Friday, April 7^th at @IOrughu.

“Wow!! No matter what you think of @KevinYardeMPP, this was a slap on the faces of the Black community, from a party that purports to support us.@OntarioNDP, a terrible precedent for other parties to use.”  In a subsequent tweet, “ Our community is in shock, mentally processing the removal of @KevinYardMPP by @AndreaHorwath & @OntarioNDP.”

Andrea Horwath, head of the NDP and leader of the Official Opposition in the Ontario legislature stated that the NDP allowed a challenge for a nomination by MPP’s as long as potential candidates satisfy a vetting process.  She states, “Our process is wide open and very democratic. As a leader, I really have nothing to do with that.”

MPP Yarde told the Toronto Star in an interview, “I was surprised like everybody else that I lost. It’s politics. You have to be ready for anything.”

He tweeted on Friday, April 8^th at @KevinYardeMPP,

“I am deeply honoured to have represented my constituents of Brampton North for the last four years. While I am disappointed at the results of the contested nomination battle, I will continue to advocate for fairness and equality. Thank you for allowing me to be your voice at Queen’s Park.”

The loss of political influence at Queen’s Park will not stop Kevin from continuing his fight against all forms of systemic racism.