Next up: B.C. Human Rights Tribunal to overturn election results

My friend John sends me this story about a pending human rights case from Vancouver:

A former school-board candidate, Dr. Lakhbir Singh, says he will ask the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal to rule on whether Vancouver’s at-large voting system is racist and illegal. In a December 3 phone interview with the Straight, Singh said he has been in e-mail and telephone contact with the tribunal, which administers the B.C. Human Rights Code.

In the November Vancouver civic election, Singh was one of six major-party candidates of South Asian descent who came last on their respective slates. After the Straight pointed out that Indo-Canadian candidates almost always come last on their slates in Vancouver, Singh decided to raise this matter with the tribunal.

Singh said that a staffer at the tribunal office told him over the phone that he could have a potential human-rights case, and passed along an application form. “I want to file a good complaint,” Singh said. “I don’t want to lose.”

Did you get that? Singh lost. It can't be because he wasn't the best candidate. It's because the people he seeks to represent are a bunch of racists. (I guess it's pretty clear he's not going to be running again, trash-talking his would-be constituents that way.)

How about a reality check? According to Statistics Canada, more than 40% of Vancouverites are visible minorities. The province has had a Sikh premier, has a Sikh justice minister, and has had a series of visible minority lieutenant governors. Its MPs are a rainbow of colours. (UPDATE: A commenter reminds me that the city's last mayor, Sam Sullivan, has been wheelchair-bound since he was 19. Those bigoted Vancouver voters!) Yet because some loser couldn't win a seat on a school board, he's crying racism. More than that, he wants the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal to rig the system so he won't lose again.

Of course, it's a slam dunk. Not only will this whiny political loser get his day in kangaroo court, but I'm certain he'll win. You'll have a handful of unelected, unaccountable, political radicals overturning the will of hundreds of thousands of voters -- almost of half of whom are minorities themselves. If they don't vote the right way, they'll be told how to vote.

Hey! Why didn't Stephane Dion think of this! He could have complained to the Canadian Human Rights Commission about his loss too! Voters can be so ungrateful to their moral and intellectual superiors!