Global News has obtained audio of an ABC candidate in Vancouver’s upcoming byelection speaking about his running mate.
Tech business leader, Jamie Stein, is running with Ralph Kaisers who is the head of the Vancouver Police Union.
In the audio, which is from an event at the University of British Columbia on March 11, Stein ponders if running alongside Kaisers is the biggest mistake of his life.
“The only negative tweets I get are, ‘Why are you running with Ralph?’” Stein can be heard saying in the audio.
“I just knew that he was always getting into trouble on Twitter.”
Stein referenced their introductory press conference in February, and how he was taken aback by questions to Kaisers about his role in the Myles Gray case.
“I look at my wife, who’s here with my three kids, like, did I just make the biggest mistake of my life?” Stein said.
Kaisers was named in a 2023 Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner report into the 2015 death of Myles Gray during a violent arrest.
The report alleges that Kaisers and other union leaders were present the day Gray died and counselled the arresting officers to not take any notes.
“I was actually not present that day at that incident, and did not instruct any of our members as to what they should or should not do,” Kaisers said on Feb. 20.
In the leaked audio, Stein mentions that nobody told him about Kaisers’ past.
When pressed Thursday, Stein couldn’t recall who he was speaking to on the leaked tape, but his tune hanged after spending the last two weeks campaigning with Kaisers.
“When you spend that much time with someone, you actually learn who someone is as a person,” Stein said on Thursday.
“Ralph is a caring, kind individual. He’s a father, he’s a grandfather, and he’s running to make Vancouver a better place.”
The Vancouver byelection is set for Saturday, April 5.