VANCOUVER—From the vantage point of Metro Vancouver’s SkyTrain, which runs through the heart of the federal riding of Burnaby South, the blocks whiz by, filled with condos, three-storey walk-ups, small businesses, large shopping centres and, notably, a plethora of food options, from Polish diners to Korean BBQ joints.

As one of the most diverse ridings in the country, where more than 68 per cent of 111,000 residents identify as visible minorities, political analysts have questioned how race would play out in the campaign leading up to the Feb. 25 byelection.

On Saturday, they got an answer when Liberal candidate Karen Wang used WeChat, a Chinese social media platform, to urge supporters to vote for her, “the only Chinese candidate” in the riding, rather than NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, who she identified as “of Indian descent.” Singh, who is vying for his first seat in the House of Commons, is Canada’s first non-white federal party leader. The other candidates are Conservative Jay Shin and People’s Party of Canada’s Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson.

Translated from Chinese, part of Wang’s post read: “If we can increase the voting rate, as the only (ethnic) Chinese candidate in this riding, if I can garner 16,000 votes I will easily win the byelection, control the election race and make history! My opponent in this byelection is the NDP candidate Singh of Indian descent!”

Wang used the term “hua yi” to refer to people of the Chinese diaspora and used the term “yin yi” to refer to people of India’s diaspora.

The use of WeChat in political campaigns is becoming more common in Metro Vancouver, particularly after October’s civic elections, when a post from Richmond-based Canada Wenzhou Friendship Society offered people “transportation subsidies” if WeChat users voted for their suggested candidates.

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An RCMP investigation into alleged vote buying was launched and subsequently dismissed.

The social media app is the premiere way to communicate in China, according to Jan Wong, a journalism professor at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, N.B., and a former China correspondent for The Globe and Mail.

“Everybody is on WeChat,” Wong said. “I don’t think Jagmeet Singh knows what he’s up against.”

Indira-Natasha Prahst, a Langara College sociology professor who has studied Metro Vancouver’s South Asian community since the 80s, hasn’t seen this kind of “racial play” before.

“It is inter-racism between Chinese and South Asians,” Prahst said. “I’m actually very disturbed by the language that’s used, the reason being is that the issue of race is not even concealed — it’s blatant.”

Wang is “playing the ethnicity card,” Prahst argued, saying it’s a political strategy to “other” Singh.

Identity politics is more conspicuous and racially motivated in South Asian media and on Chinese media platforms, she added, where the messaging in one language is not the same as what is said in English on the campaign trail.

But there’s also a history of tension between the two communities, which Prahst said is not new to the region and relates to intense competition between India and China for power on the world stage.

In the 2016 Census, 76,080 Burnaby South residents identified as a “visible minority,” defined as “persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour,” while 34,925 said they were not a member of a visible minority. Chinese people made up the largest bloc of those minorities, with 42,975 people, while South Asians were a distant second with 9,315 people and the third largest visible minority group was Filipino with 6,890 people.

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Meanwhile, Metro Vancouver residents believe the region is experiencing a major housing crisis and blame foreign buyers, population growth, shadow flipping and money laundering as the primary causes, according to an August poll by Mario Canseco’s Research Co. completed ahead of the Oct. 20 municipal elections.

Prahst said there’s an “intense climate” of anti-Chinese sentiments in the region, which may explain the increasing “for us, by us” political attitudes.

The Langara sociologist questioned Wang’s credibility, saying she’s playing on existing tensions between the Chinese and South Asian communities to mobilize votes.

Wang, a daycare operator who ran for the B.C. Liberals in the 2017 provincial election, confirmed in an emailed statement that the WeChat post referenced her cultural background and that of “other candidates,” and said it would be deleted.

“The intent was to stress the importance of people of all different backgrounds getting involved in this important byelection,” it read. “The phrasing should have been different and it will be taken down.”

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But Wang’s greatest miscalculation was assuming that all Chinese Canadians would vote as a bloc, said Fenella Sung, head of a Vancouver community group called Friends of Hong Kong.

Wang highlighted her ethnicity assuming she will get the Chinese vote, and Sung said that’s a “very wrong” assessment of the community, despite the large population in the riding.

“You would not assume that everyone would think the same,” she said. “It’s an insult to the Chinese community voters in her riding.”

Ethnicity was the primary motivator for only three per cent of Chinese and three per cent of South and South East Asians who voted in the 2015 federal election, according to a Vancouver Insights West online survey of 432 Chinese, South Asian and South East Asian people on October 7, 2015. The candidates’ position on issues was the most important factor for 58 per cent of Chinese and 66 per cent of South and South East Asians polled.

“Voting one of your own is not the main motivator in a federal election,” said pollster Canseco, who was with Insights West at the time of the 2015 poll. “It’s easy to look at demographics and assume that everyone who fits a specific ethnic origin will vote accordingly, but it’s extremely misleading.”

And while earlier reports had Singh polling third in the riding, a new poll of 740 Burnaby South voters by Mainstreet Research released on Tuesday showed 38.8 per cent would vote for Singh, 26.3 would vote for Wang, 22 per cent would vote for Shin, 8.7 per cent would vote for Tyler, according to Mainstreet Research president, Quitto Maggi.

For Sung, voting for an MP is “such” an important action. She slammed Wang for failing to mention her platforms or policy and putting the focus solely on ethnicity.

Not only that, but Vancouver immigration lawyer Will Tao noted that WeChat is most popular in B.C. among those who may not speak English as their first language, such as older immigrants or newer community members.

In response to the WeChat posts, Singh issued a statement saying he intends to represent everyone who calls Burnaby South their home.

“We believe everyone brings something to the table and as a community we are better for it,” the statement said. “While there are real differences in people’s experiences, I have dedicated much of my work over the years to find the common threads that unite us all.”

With files from Joanna Chiu

Correction — Jan. 15, 2019: This article was edited from a previous version that incorrectly spelled Fenella Sung’s last name.

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