Bob Mackin
In his filing with Elections Canada, Liberal Vancouver Granville candidate Taleeb Noormohamed describes his occupation as “CEO.”
On Sept. 20, he could become MP in the riding won twice by Jody Wilson-Raybould, the independent who blew the whistle on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s SNC-Lavalin scandal.
Taleeb Noormohamed in 2021 (Facebook)
Noormohamed’s campaign has been the most-controversial of any Liberal west of Ontario (where candidates Raj Saini and Kevin Vuong were dropped due to sex scandals).
The revelations of Noormohamed’s secret career as a real estate flipper only got worse with a cringe-inducing interview with CTV News Vancouver and a photo of him hiding in the passenger seat of a car while an assistant knocked on doors. Both went viral.
Noormohamed has avoided reporters ever since, hoping to play out the clock and edge contestants Anjali Appadurai (NDP) and Kailin Che when the ballots are counted.
Many unanswered questions remain about Noormohamed. Here are 10.
1.
Your residential address on your Elections Canada registration is a suite in a Concord Pacific-built condo across from Parq Casino in Northeast False Creek. Why weren’t you with your party leader Trudeau at his Sept. 13 news conference on the roof of Parq Casino?
2.
Taleeb Noormohamed with Justin Trudeau in 2011 (Vincent Chan/Facebook)
The Unitarian Church of Vancouver hosted an all-candidates meeting on Sept. 14. It was held in an empty auditorium, due to the pandemic, but webcast on YouTube. Your NDP, Conservative and PPC opponents attended. You didn’t. Where were you?
3.
On Sept. 15, CBC’s Early Edition with Stephen Quinn invited candidates to an on-air forum. The CBC studio is an 11-minute walk from your condo address or five minutes by car. You missed it. Where were you?
4.
In May 2018, just a week after announcing you would seek the Vision Vancouver mayoral nomination, you quit the race, citing a “sudden cardiac event.” Yet you are running for a second time in Vancouver Granville to become MP. It is a high-stress occupation, with long hours and arduous travel to and from Ottawa. What is your health status?
5.
Taleeb Noormohamed from the Stewart Group website.
Your campaign bio on the Liberal website omits the time you spent with The Stewart Group, a lobbying and procurement consulting firm that has represented SNC-Lavalin, Bombardier and Compass card provider Cubic Transportation. Lobbyist Lecia Stewart was the bid strategist behind SNC-Lavalin’s troubled Ottawa Confederation Line.
The Stewart Group’s clients also included Southern Rail of B.C., whose tracks are used for hauling coal. Fraser Surrey Docks was eyed as a terminal to export thermal coal from Wyoming’s Powder River Basin.
How do you reconcile your past with a firm that represented a company involved in shipping dirty coal with the Liberal promise to ban thermal coal exports from Canada no later than 2030?
6.
The International Olympic Committee had policies in 2007, when you joined the Vancouver 2010 organizing committee, that required executives to avoid conflicts of interest. When you were buying and selling real estate in Downtown Vancouver near Olympic venues, did you disclose those activities to your superiors at VANOC, as per the ethical policy?
Liberal candidate Taleeb Noormohamed on Sept. 2 (Twitter/Richard Lo)
7.
How much did you gross from renting downtown Vancouver condos while you were a vice-president with VANOC?
8.
Did you knowingly rent to anyone employed directly or indirectly with any entity in the Olympic family, whether it was an athlete or a sponsor?
9.
You are skilled at buying and selling real estate for profit. You live in the Vancouver Centre riding. Why did you not buy a residence in Vancouver Granville, the riding you have sought to represent since 2019?
10.
If you win Vancouver Granville in the Sept. 20 election, will you quit all corporate executive and board positions and divest any such holdings, so you can focus solely on being an MP? Will you sell your remaining real estate properties or put them in a blind trust?
Should Taleeb Noormohamed respond to any of the above, this story will be updated to show his answers.
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