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When Andrew Scheer won his party's leadership in 2017, it was seen as a triumph for social conservatives.

The anti-abortion group RightNow issued a news release applauding Scheer's rise to the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada.

As the Straight has previously reported, Conservative candidates in Port Moody–Coquitlam and Coquitlam–Port Coquitlam (Nelly Shin and Nicholas Insley) attended a speech in February by RightNow cofounder Alissa Golob.

They're not the only Conservative candidates in the suburbs of Vancouver with ties to the Christian right.

Software engineer Kenny Chiu, the Conservative candidate in Steveston–Richmond East, used to be on the board of the Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford.

According to a 2015 article in the Richmond News, the college's community standards called for students to practise "appropriate sexuality"—i.e. no premarital sex, adultery, or homosexual activity.

Moreover, the paper reported that a B.C. account belonging to a software engineer named Kenny Chiu defended a Progressive Conservative MP in on a politics forum 2003 when she opposed Pride parades and same-sex marriage.

"Today in Canada, simply disagreeing to the claim that homosexuality is normal can result in crucifixion," the commenter named Kenny Chiu said.

Through a spokesperson, Chiu told the Richmond News in 2015: "This does not represent my views."

Chiu narrowly lost in 2015 against Liberal Joe Peschisolido, who's been enmeshed in a controversy around "bare trusts".

Earlier this year, Global B.C. News reported that his law firm had been involved in real estate deals with a person from China who was allegedly part of a money-laundering investigation at B.C. casinos.

It appears as though the Conservative candidate in Burnaby North–Seymour, Heather Leung, also has a history of social conservatism.

In May, Star Vancouver reported that Leung, like Chiu, has been a vocal critic of the trans-friendly SOGI 123 curriculum in B.C. schools.