The Green Party of Vancouver has dropped one of its candidates for the Vancouver Park Board over allegations of “unauthorized handling and use” of its list of supporters, with just a month to go before the city’s municipal election.
In a media release Friday, the Greens said their board of directors had voted to withdraw their endorsement for Liam Menard on Wednesday after he allegedly admitted to the misuse of data.
“The Party moved swiftly to investigate and subsequently withdrew its endorsement from Park Board Candidate Liam Menard as soon as it became apparent that data was used in a way that contravened Green Party values, its candidate agreement, and the law,” according to the release.
The Greens said they have emailed everyone on the party’s supporter contact list to warn them of possible “misuse and mishandling of private information.”
“We deeply regret that our previously endorsed Candidate violated our trust and the trust of our supporters,” Green council candidate Pete Fry said in the release.
“We will conduct a review to understand what we can do to better protect our supporters’ privacy.”
Global News is seeking comment from Menard.
Menard’s candidate page has been removed from the party’s website.
Prior to its removal, it described him as president and chairman of the False Creek Community Association’s board of directors, an appointed member of the Vancouver Renter’s Advisory Committee and a former director of the Surfrider Foundation.
The Greens further alleged that they believe “some or all” of their supporter list is in the possession of the Progress Vancouver party, and called on it to ” immediately cease all campaign communications until the matter has been investigated and the list has been purged.”
Reached by email, Progress Vancouver party president Scott de Lange Boom would not confirm or deny the allegation.
“Progress Vancouver has gathered lists of prospects from supporters and candidates with networks from across the political spectrum, following all applicable laws regarding data collection and privacy,” he said.
He said anyone receiving unwanted communications from the party can inform them and their names will be removed from its contact list.