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Scores of Mandarin or Cantonese-speaking East Vancouver residents say they don’t know how their names were added to the Liberal Party of Canada’s membership list, according to a party member.

And the federal Liberals’ nomination meeting in outgoing NDP MP Libby Davies’ Vancouver East riding was abruptly postponed today, a day before federal Liberals were poised to pick a candidate. No reason was given.

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“The Candidate Selection Meeting for the Vancouver-East Liberals has been postponed until further notice,” stated a notice on the constituency association’s Facebook page. “We will let you know the new date as soon as possible.”

The two candidates for the Vancouver East nomination are philanthropist Joanne Griffiths and lawyer Edward Wong. The party had earlier disallowed the candidacies of marijuana activist Jodie Emery and former RCMP officer Richard Jaques.

When Angela Kwan — a Mandarin-speaking party member — phoned more than 150 people on the list on behalf of Griffiths, she discovered most of the people who answered had no idea they had been signed up as Liberal Party members.

The majority of people Kwan called lived in just six buildings in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Of those she reached by phone, about 60 said they hadn’t signed up or paid the mandatory $10 membership fee, she said.

I understand that there were some irregularities and the party was looking into it and I just hope that the race will be fair and just

“I asked them did someone approach you recently, did somebody come and ask you to sign up for anything and they said they never signed anything,” said Kwan, adding that the people she reached understood her when she spoke Mandarin.

“It’s like they were never approached before,” said Kwan. “They just said they never paid the $10, they’re not a Liberal … it was a lot of confusion. Mostly ‘no pay’ and ‘no member.’ They said they didn’t belong to any party.”