VANCOUVER — A convicted gunman who B.C. Premier Christy Clark said should not have been invited to her government's budget speech last month holds a position on a Surrey riding executive in the federal Liberal party, The Vancouver Sun has learned.

Jaspal Singh Atwal is a member-at-large of the Surrey Fleetwood-Port Kells Liberal riding association executive, party executive director Don McDonald confirmed Friday.

The federal Liberal party is separate from the B.C. Liberals.

McDonald said Atwal has held the riding position since at least March 2011.

He said he personally didn't know about Atwal's criminal conviction for attempted murder until The Sun reported earlier this week about a complaint to the Speaker's office after Atwal attended the budget as an official B.C. government guest.

The premier's office explained that another invited guest, Tariq Ghuman, made the last-minute request for the extra ticket for Atwal and that no vetting was done of the guest list.

Ghuman has since resigned as a regional director for the B.C. Liberals and apologized to the premier and his party.

Clark repeated Thursday that she didn't know Atwal or anything about his conviction in 1987 for attempting to assassinate a visiting Punjabi cabinet minister.

"He shouldn't have been here. So in the future, we're going to have much more scrutiny on this list between us and the Speaker's office," Clark said. "I have met thousands and thousands and thousands of people. So I can't say I know him . . . if I had recognized his name and I had seen him on the list, he wouldn't have been here."

McDonald said the federal Liberal party does not preclude people with criminal convictions from holding riding executive positions.

"It is really up to the executive to make decisions about who serves, especially in between annual general meetings," he said. "It really is a situation of if somebody wants to hold office and that riding association is okay with that, it is up to them to deal with it."

McDonald said the only rule is that a riding executive member must hold a valid membership in the Liberal party and the nomination must be received by a certain cut-off date.

Riding president Javaid Muhammad did not respond to an interview request.

Atwal hung up on a Sun reporter Friday.

Dr. Gulzar Cheema, a former Liberal provincial legislator and one-time federal Liberal candidate for Fleetwood, said Atwal's work for both parties is well-known in Surrey, just south of Vancouver.

"I know that he has been active. There is no question about that," said Cheema, who also knows of Atwal's history. "I am not going to deny that I know him. I know him."

When Cheema organized fundraisers for the federal Liberals, Atwal would attend, he said.

"When I was doing functions in Surrey and I did one with Michael Ignatieff (in 2010), Jas was there with his four or five friends. So I can't say that I don't know him. That would be totally irresponsible and I think that would be a really horrible thing to say," Cheema said.

He also said there shouldn't be anything precluding people with criminal histories from participating in politics if they have changed their lives.

"I think everyone has the right to participate, as long as they are abiding by the rules of the party," he said. "If you know, if you are involved in the political process and you are honest about this and if there are things in the past which may not be very flattering, but if you are positive now, I think we should move on."

kbolan@vancouversun.com

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