Liberals reject Karen Wang´s request to run again as party´s candidate in Burnaby South byelection
(The Star Theatre)

VANCOUVER—The federal Liberal party is shutting the door on its former candidate in the Burnaby South byelection after she expressed second thoughts about resigning.Karen Wang, who until Wednesday was the Liberal candidate running against NDP leader Jagmeet Singh in the highly anticipated byelection, Wednesday resigned over comments she made on social media about Singh’s race. Later, she asked the prime minister to let her run after all.But the party has decided against letting Wang run under the Liberal banner.“Recent online comments by Karen Wang are not aligned with the values of the Liberal Party of Canada. The Liberal Party has accepted her resignation as a candidate and she will not represent the Liberal Party in the Burnaby South byelection,� wrote Braeden Caley, Liberal Party spokesperson in an email Thursday. Wang, a daycare operator who was selected last month to run for the Liberals in one of the country’s most diverse ridings, Saturday urged voters over the Chinese social media network WeChat to vote for her, “the only Chinese candidate in the riding,� rather than her opponent Singh, “of Indian descent.�She apologized to Singh Wednesday, after the Star published details of the WeChat post initially published in Chinese, and stepped down as the Liberal candidate in the riding. “My choice of words wasn’t well-considered and didn’t reflect my intent,� she said in the Wednesday statement, adding that she has deep respect for the NDP leader.Speaking in a phone interview before she knew the Liberal party’s response to her request to run again, Wang said she has the `heart and passion` to serve Burnaby South and that she would consider running as an independent if the Liberals wouldn’t take her back.Read more: ‘It makes us look bad’: Burnaby’s Chinese-Canadian community reacts to Karen Wang’s resignation over WeChat postSnap resignation of Karen ...