By Staff
It seems as if the controversy surrounding Quimpo’s candidacy does not stop.
On the day of the last all candidates debate in his riding which he refused to attend, a story on a local media revealed that he “signed” a pledge from pranksters Shit Harper Did (SHD).The pranksters talked the Conservative candidate into signing a pledge that he will not cheat in the October 19 federal election, which was fine except for one thing: the vow signed by Quimpo makes a promise not to do what “my counterparts have done…in the past three elections”, which means not cheating.
It makes Quimpo seem to admit that the Conservatives didn’t play fair and square in the 2006, 2008, and 2011 elections.
The SHD even had Quimpo on-camera gladly signing the pledge and saying: “Absolutely. As much as possible, we have to preserve the democratic process and respect it.”
Quimpo’s campaign office was one of a number of Conservative election headquarters visited by SHD instigators. One of the mischievous activists would drop to a knee and, with a ring in hand, pop the question to candidates and staff: “Do you promise not to cheat in the 2015 election?”
It is not clear why Quimpo signed the pledge knowing the pranksters were from Shit Harper Did.
In September this year, a new Filipino community paper ran two lengthy articles critical of Quimpo.
In its September 2015 edition, the MetroVan Independent criticized the conduct of this year’s Pinoy Fiesta organized by Quimpo. It quoted people who didn’t find appropriate what they considered to be a racy performance by the festival’s guest entertainment star from Manila, and the heavy presence of Conservative Party figures at the event.
A second piece, penned by the monthly paper’s publisher, Steve Marshall, brought back questions he raised a year ago about a Facebook thread created by Quimpo, which generated negative comments about Marshall’s wife. Marshall claimed the comments in Facebook amounted to cyberbullying.
The current October issue criticizes Quimpo’s ‘disappearing ‘ act at the Chinese Canadian National Congress where he appeared for photo-ops but disappeared when the time came for debates. He missed all four debates in his own riding as well.
It wasn’t the first time that Quimpo, formerly employed as a paralegal in a law firm in Vancouver, has attracted controversy in connection with his political plans.
Last year in social media, Quimpo’s academic credentials were criticized but he was able to defend himself both in radio and print.
Quimpo is fighting an uphill battle in Vancouver Kingsway, a riding that has alternated mostly between Liberal and NDP control. Since 1953, voters in the riding voted into office only one Conservative candidate, which was in 1958.
Vancouver Kingsway has a population of almost 125,000, a majority of whom are Chinese and Vietnamese. In the 2011 Census, close to 8,000 indicated that they speak Tagalog, the main Filipino language.
Accountant Steven Kou is the Liberal candidate.
The current MP, Don Davies of the NDP, has held the riding since 2008. In the 2011 election, Davies, a lawyer, got 50 percent of the vote.It seems as if the controversy surrounding Quimpo’s candidacy does not stop.