Burnaby Lake on a clear autumn day, with a row of poplars and the North Shore mountains reflected in still water.

Burnaby Lake, Burnaby East · Photo: Claire Ellison, CC BY-SA 4.0

EDITORIAL · BURNABY EAST · THE CONSERVATIVES · THE RACE

Burnaby EastBC provincial election · 2026

Who will answer to Burnaby East: Reah Arora or Peter Si?

Burnaby East chooses between Reah Arora, the BC NDP MLA since 2024, and Peter Si, a Conservative who has lived in Burnaby since he was 12. Arora grew up in Westridge and organized for the BC Federation of Labour; Si has run campaigns and worked for the Conservative caucus in Victoria. Here is where each stands, followed by how Arora has answered the public as an MLA, and our view. 338Canada projects a five-point race.

Backcountry Coalition ·

On the evening of Thursday, 12 March 2026, the member of the legislature for Burnaby East answered a critic on X. Wyatt Claypool, the communications director of OneBC, a rival party, had told her that afternoon that she seemed “prejudiced against a lot of people.” At 9:30 p.m. she replied.123

Rohini Arora@reah4burnaby

12 Mar 2026

Wyatt you’re so repressed.

You want a woman like me so bad but will never get one because in the real world you freeze up the second we match your keyboard gangster energy.

Go away, the adults are talking.

Replying to Wyatt Claypool @wyatt_claypool · 4:31 p.m.

You seem prejudiced against a lot of people.

I remember when I spoke to you at an event and mentioned Thomas Sowell and you condescendingly said “he comes from a colonial perspective.”

May as well have called him an Uncle Tom.

54,719 views · 163 replies · still public on 18 October

Her reply, re-set word for word, with the post it answered shown inside it. The highlights are ours.12

The woman who wrote that is Rohini “Reah” Arora, the BC NDP MLA for Burnaby East since 2024. She is asking the riding to send her back to Victoria on 24 October.4 Her Conservative challenger is Peter Si, who moved to Burnaby at the age of 12 and has lived there since.5 Seven months after that night, her post is still up.1

Before the record, here is where each of them stands.

Peter SiConservative Party of BC

Reah AroraBC NDP, incumbent

Background

Moved to Burnaby at 12; BA in political science, history and international studies, University of Alberta; campaign manager for Steve Kooner’s winning 2024 Richmond-Queensborough campaign; two years working for the Conservative caucus in Victoria.5
Grew up in Westridge; Director of Organizing and Campaigns at the BC Federation of Labour; as a member of United Steelworkers Local 2009, served on the National Anti-Racism Committee; first elected in 2024 and Deputy Chair of the BC Government Caucus.67

What the job is

His party says his first campaign taught him that politics is about “representing people and giving those who need help a voice at the highest levels of government.”5
“We need to keep investing in our schools and healthcare so everyone, no matter their income, can get the services they need.”6

The hospital tower

We found no statement of his own. His party’s candidate in Burnaby North, Simon Chandler, says a Conservative government will get the tower “back on track and built.”89
“Our BC NDP team will move forward with the Burnaby Hospital redevelopment. In September we committed $210 million for an expanded emergency department and surgical unit.”6

Where they stand, from the candidates’ answers to Freshet News of 16 October 2026 and their campaign biographies. Si did not answer Freshet’s questions by its deadline. Conservative on the left, NDP on the right, as on our cards.

01 Accused of prejudice, Reah Arora answered with a remark about a man’s love life.

Claypool’s charge was a sharp one, and an MLA is free to say it is wrong. Arora did not say it was wrong. She did not dispute his account of the event or mention Thomas Sowell, the economist he named. She told him he was “so repressed,” that he wanted “a woman like me so bad,” and that he should go away because “the adults are talking.”1

Claypool told the Western Standard that the comment was “bizarre and really inappropriate for anyone to have made, let alone a sitting MLA.” The outlet reported that Arora did not respond to its request for comment.10 In our view, a remark about a man’s love life is not an answer to a charge of prejudice. It is a way of not answering one.

02 She has used the same tone on a colleague’s thread, on a reporter and on the leader of another party.

In May, Claypool posted a clip of Arora and called her a “Woke Scold.”11 George Anderson, the BC NDP MLA for Nanaimo-Lantzville, came to her defence. “Personal attacks usually mean the argument has been lost,” he wrote, and he urged Claypool to “debate the issue.” Forty-five minutes later Arora replied in the same thread.1213

Rohini Arora@reah4burnaby

6 May 2026

This obsessed loser makes up narratives and undermines other men, their mental health and their own voices. Yikes.

Replying to George Anderson @G_Anderson1 · 7:32 p.m.

Men’s mental health is too serious for personal attacks.

Margaret Thatcher had it right: personal attacks usually mean the argument has been lost.

If you disagree with MLA Arora, debate the issue. Demeaning my colleague helps no man, family, or community facing these challenges

Still public on 17 October

Her reply sits directly under her colleague’s post asking for an end to personal attacks.1312

In April, Alex Zoltan, a reporter for the Western Standard, replied to her that he “would also appreciate you responding to my emails.” Six minutes later she answered him with three words: “Who are you?”14 In September, Dallas Brodie, the leader of OneBC and the MLA for Vancouver-Quilchena, attacked the BC Teachers’ Federation. Arora told her: “I can’t wait for them to school you with the basic education you clearly need.”1516

She knows what the better version looks like, because she has described it. In October 2025 she wrote of a moment of support across party lines: “This is the real way to do politics.”17 We agree with her. In our view, her own posts since then show her doing the opposite to the people who disagree with her.

03 Two weeks before that March post, she voted for the budget that paused Burnaby Hospital’s new tower.

Burnaby Hospital serves every Burnaby riding. In September 2023 the province approved Phase 2 of its redevelopment: a 12-storey tower with 160 private rooms and a new BC Cancer centre, with construction to start in 2025 and completion anticipated in 2030.18 In February 2026 the government paused it in its budget, and in April it cancelled the construction contract.1920 Kristy James, the president and CEO of the Burnaby Hospital & Community Foundation, said the foundation had been “consistently reassured by our Burnaby MLAs” that the project was not cancelled, “but a terminated contract with no confirmed start date sounds like a cancellation.”20

The budget motion, 26 February 2026

46Yea, BC NDP
46Nay, opposition

The Speaker broke the tie, and the motion carried.

Reah Arora voted yea.21

The budget motion of 26 February passed 46 to 46, on the Speaker’s casting vote, and Arora was one of the 46. The same budget raised the lowest provincial income-tax rate from 5.06% to 5.60%, and when that bill passed third reading on 1 April, again on the Speaker’s vote, she voted yes again.21222324 Had any one of the 46 voted the other way on 26 February, the motion would have failed.

On 21 September the province came back with $210 million to expand the emergency department and renew the surgical unit inside the hospital’s existing support facilities building. For the tower, it said only that it was “advancing plans,” and it gave no date.2526 Asked by Freshet News this month whether she would see Phase 2 completed, Arora answered:

“Our BC NDP team will move forward with the Burnaby Hospital redevelopment. In September we committed $210 million for an expanded emergency department and surgical unit. These will be followed by expanded cancer care and new acute care services.”

Reah Arorato Freshet News, 16 October 20266

In our view, “will be followed by” is not a start date. The 2023 plan had one.18

The front entrance of Burnaby Hospital under a blue sky, with its blue canopy and the Fraser Health sign.
Burnaby Hospital. Photo by Stephen Ray, 2020, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

04 Her replies are open to everyone, but we found no answer to any of the 221 comments we read.

Arora deserves credit on one count. On every one of the 55 campaign posts of hers that we read, anyone could reply.27 She did not limit who could comment, as some of her BC NDP colleagues did.28

Leaving the door open is not the same as answering it. On X, her campaign posts drew 49 replies, and she answered none of them. On Facebook and Instagram we read 221 comments under 53 of her posts and found no reply from her. On our four-measure rating of the 41 BC NDP incumbents running again, she received an F.27 In our view, the record is plain: the voters who asked her questions got silence, and the critics who caught her attention got put-downs.

05 Peter Si has lived in Burnaby since he was 12 and has spent his working life in the campaigns and offices of the opposition.

Peter Si, in a dark suit and patterned tie.

Peter Si

Conservative Party of BC candidate, Burnaby East

Home
Moved to Burnaby at 12 and has lived there since
Education
BA in Political Science, History and International Studies, University of Alberta
Campaigns
Campaign manager for Steve Kooner, Richmond-Queensborough, 2024; federal campaign director for James Yan, Burnaby Centre, 2025
Party
President of the Richmond-Queensborough riding association since 2024; Vice-President, Burnaby Centre association
Work
Two years in Victoria with the Conservative caucus

Portrait: Conservative Party of BC

Si moved to Burnaby at the age of 12 and earned a degree in political science, history and international studies at the University of Alberta. He began on a municipal campaign in Vancouver, which his party says taught him that politics is about “representing people and giving those who need help a voice at the highest levels of government.”5

Since then he has done the unglamorous work of politics. In 2024 he managed the campaign of Steve Kooner, who now sits as the Conservative MLA for Richmond-Queensborough, and in 2025 he was federal campaign director for James Yan in Burnaby Centre. He has been president of the Richmond-Queensborough riding association since 2024 and is vice-president of the Burnaby Centre association. For the past two years he has worked in Victoria for the Conservative caucus, supporting its members as they hold the government to account.529

His record in his own words is thin. He did not return Freshet News’s candidate questionnaire by its deadline, and we found no interview with him and no platform of his own beyond his party’s.830 Voters who want to hear from him directly should ask him before they vote.

In our view, the choice in Burnaby East turns less on Si’s résumé than on whether Arora’s conduct has earned her four more years. If it has not, Si is the only candidate in a position to replace her.

06 Burnaby East is within reach, and Peter Si is the only challenger who can take it.

338Canada, which turns the published polls into a projection for every riding, rates Burnaby East as leaning BC NDP. Its update of 16 October puts Arora at 46% and Si at 41%, each with a margin of eight points either way, so the two ranges overlap.31

Burnaby East, projected vote

338Canada, update of 16 October 2026. Bars show the projection; the thin lines show its margin either way.31

Reah Arora, BC NDP
46%
Peter Si, Conservative
41%
Javad Shushtarian, BC Green
10%
De Ding, OneBC
3%

0%35%70%

Javad Shushtarian of the BC Greens is projected at 10%, and De Ding of OneBC at 3%.314 Only Si is within the projection’s margin of the lead.

In 2024 Arora won the riding by 2,292 votes over the Conservative candidate, Simon Chandler, who is running this year in Burnaby North, 10,490 to 8,198. If about 1,147 of her voters had chosen the Conservative instead, the seat would have changed hands.32

In our view, if Burnaby East wants a new MLA, Peter Si is the only challenger within reach.

07 She told a critic the adults were talking. On 24 October, the voters of Burnaby East get the last word.

Advance voting runs until 21 October, and Final Voting Day is 24 October.33 Elections BC’s Where to Vote app shows every voting place in the riding.

On the night of 12 March, a sitting MLA was accused of prejudice. She could have said the charge was wrong and explained why. She told the man instead that he wanted “a woman like me so bad,” and that he should go away because “the adults are talking.” Seven months later the post has been seen 54,719 times, and it is still up.1

She says the adults are talking. On 24 October, the adults of Burnaby East get to answer.

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Burnaby East is choosing between Reah Arora, its BC NDP MLA, and Peter Si, the Conservative, and the question on the table is how an MLA answers the public.

When Wyatt Claypool, OneBC’s communications director, said she seemed “prejudiced against a lot of people,” Rohini “Reah” Arora told him he wanted “a woman like me so bad.” She answered a reporter with “Who are you?” and called another critic an “obsessed loser.”

We read 221 comments under her Facebook and Instagram posts and found no reply from her. She also voted for the budget that paused Burnaby Hospital’s new tower, which passed 46 to 46 on the Speaker’s vote.

Peter Si, the Conservative candidate, has lived in Burnaby since he was 12, managed a winning 2024 campaign in Richmond-Queensborough and has worked two years for the Conservative caucus in Victoria. He did not return Freshet News’s questionnaire by its deadline, so ask him directly before you vote.

In our view, if Burnaby East wants a new MLA, Peter Si is the only challenger within reach.

Advance voting runs until 21 October, and Final Voting Day is 24 October.

🔗 backcountry.cx/editorials/swing-burnaby-east/

#BCpoli #BCElection #Burnaby #BurnabyEast

Sources

  1. ↩ Rohini (Reah) Arora, @reah4burnaby, reply on X to Wyatt Claypool, 12 March 2026, 9:30 p.m. Pacific: “Wyatt you’re so repressed…” Re-read through X’s public embed data and FxTwitter on 18 October 2026: still public; 54,719 views, 163 replies. x.com
  2. ↩ Wyatt Claypool, @wyatt_claypool, reply on X to Rohini Arora, 12 March 2026, 4:31 p.m.: “You seem prejudiced against a lot of people…” Read and saved 17 October 2026. x.com
  3. ↩ Wyatt Claypool’s X profile, read 17 October 2026: “OneBC Communications Director.” x.com
  4. ↩ Elections BC, 2026 Provincial General Election candidates, read 18 October 2026. Burnaby East: Rohini Reah Arora (BC NDP), De Ding (OneBC), Javad Shushtarian (BC Green Party), Peter Si (Conservative Party). elections.bc.ca
  5. ↩ Conservative Party of BC, candidate page, “Peter Si,” read 18 October 2026: moved to Burnaby at age 12; University of Alberta BA; campaign manager for Steve Kooner in Richmond-Queensborough in 2024 and federal campaign director for James Yan in Burnaby Centre in 2025; president of the Richmond-Queensborough riding association since 2024 and vice-president of the Burnaby Centre association; two years in Victoria with the Conservative caucus. Portrait from this page. conservativebc.ca
  6. ↩ Freshet News, candidate profile, “Rohini Arora,” 16 October 2026: her answer on Phase 2, quoted here as published. freshetnews.ca
  7. ↩ Burnaby Board of Trade, “Election candidates,” 9 October 2026, with profiles supplied by the campaigns: Rohini Arora “was first elected in 2024 and served as Deputy Chair of the BC Government Caucus” and was “Director of Organizing and Campaigns at the BC Federation of Labour.” bbot.ca
  8. ↩ Freshet News, candidate profile, “Peter Si,” 16 October 2026: “Did not respond by deadline.” freshetnews.ca
  9. ↩ Freshet News, candidate profile, “Simon Chandler,” 16 October 2026: his background (accounting, then mortgage lending) and his answers on affordability, housing and Phase 2, quoted here as published. freshetnews.ca
  10. ↩ Western Standard, 17 April 2026, “BC NDP denounces Western Standard as ‘racist’ for editorial rejecting 60M Indian immigrants”: Claypool’s comment and Arora’s lack of response to a request for comment. westernstandard.news
  11. ↩ Wyatt Claypool, post on X, 6 May 2026, 4:13 p.m., with a video clip of Arora, calling her a “Woke Scold.” Read and saved 17 October 2026. x.com
  12. ↩ George Anderson, BC NDP MLA for Nanaimo-Lantzville, reply on X, 6 May 2026, 7:32 p.m.: “Men’s mental health is too serious for personal attacks…” Read and saved 17 October 2026. x.com
  13. ↩ Rohini Arora, reply on X in George Anderson’s thread, 6 May 2026, 8:17 p.m.: “This obsessed loser…” Read and saved 17 October 2026. x.com
  14. ↩ Rohini Arora, reply on X, 16 April 2026, 3:52 p.m.: “Who are you?”, answering Alex Zoltan, a Western Standard reporter, who wrote six minutes earlier that he would appreciate her “responding to my emails.” x.com
  15. ↩ Rohini Arora, quote-post on X of Dallas Brodie, 13 September 2026, 6:45 p.m.: “…I can’t wait for them to school you with the basic education you clearly need.” x.com
  16. ↩ OneBC, candidate page for Dallas Brodie, Vancouver-Quilchena (“OneBC Leader”), read 17 October 2026. 1bc.ca
  17. ↩ Rohini Arora, quote-post on X of Brittny Anderson, 23 October 2025: “This is the real way to do politics.” x.com
  18. ↩ Province of British Columbia, news release, 13 September 2023, “Burnaby Hospital redevelopment expands to provide more services”: the 12-storey inpatient tower “expected to include 160 private rooms,” the new BC Cancer Centre, the emergency department expanded to 104 treatment spaces, “construction planned to start in 2025 and completion anticipated in 2030,” a cost of “approximately $1.7 billion,” and the quotation from Janet Routledge, MLA for Burnaby-North. news.gov.bc.ca
  19. ↩ Global News, Amy Judd, 30 April 2026, “Phase 2 of Burnaby Hospital redevelopment cancelled by provincial government”: Phase 2 “was one of several that the provincial government paused in Budget 2026,” and the alliance contract “has been cancelled completely.” globalnews.ca
  20. ↩ Freshet News, Cornelia Naylor, 29 April 2026, “Province cancels Burnaby Hospital agreement”: the $1.7-billion Phase 2 approved by treasury board in 2023; the alliance development agreement “signed and approved on June 21, 2024” with Fraser Health, the Provincial Health Services Authority (BC Cancer), PCL Constructors Westcoast Inc., Parkin Architects Western Ltd. and Infrastructure BC; its cancellation; and Kristy James’s statement. freshetnews.ca
  21. ↩ Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Hansard, 26 February 2026, morning sitting: the question “that the Speaker do now leave the Chair for the House to go into Committee of Supply,” carried on a division of 46 yeas (including Arora) to 46 nays; “the votes being equal, the Chair must make a casting vote. The motion is a confidence matter.” leg.bc.ca
  22. ↩ Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Hansard, 1 April 2026, afternoon sitting: third reading of Bill 2, Budget Measures Implementation Act, 2026, carried on a division of 46 yeas (including Arora) to 46 nays, the Speaker casting the deciding vote. leg.bc.ca
  23. ↩ Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Votes index, Second Session, 43rd Parliament, 2026, “Arora, Rohini (Burnaby East)”: Budget motion, Yea; Budget Measures Implementation Act, 2026 (Bill 2), second and third reading, Yea; Supply Act, 2026-2027 (Bill 22), third reading, Yea. leg.bc.ca
  24. ↩ Province of British Columbia, “B.C. Provincial budget tax changes,” read 18 October 2026: “the lowest personal income tax rate is increased from 5.06 percent to 5.60 percent,” applying “to the first $50,363 of taxable income for 2026”; the basic personal credits rise by the same percentage “to fully or partially offset the tax rate increase”; changes introduced in Bill 2, Budget Measures Implementation Act, 2026. gov.bc.ca
  25. ↩ The Canadian Press, via CTV News, 21 September 2026, “B.C. government restarts planning for Burnaby Hospital expansion”: the project will now proceed in three steps, with $210 million for the emergency department and surgical unit first. ctvnews.ca
  26. ↩ ReNew Canada, 23 September 2026, “Province moves forward on renewed plan to redevelop Burnaby Hospital,” reproducing the provincial announcement: “$210 million from the Province to improve and expand the emergency department and surgical unit”; both “in the support facilities building”; “16 additional treatment spaces”; “initial procurement completed in early 2027, followed by detailed design and construction”; and the Province “advancing plans” for cancer care and a new acute-care tower, with no date given. renewcanada.net
  27. ↩ Backcountry Coalition’s rating of the 41 BC NDP incumbents running again, on four public measures, over the campaign window of 22 September to 17 October 2026: for Arora, replies open on all 55 campaign posts read; no answer on X under posts that drew 49 replies; 221 comments read under 53 of her Facebook and Instagram posts with no reply from her (some Instagram reply threads could not be opened, so the count is a floor); overall grade F. Data: research/ndp-incumbents-social/grades-v2.csv.
  28. ↩ Backcountry Coalition, “The BC NDP say they’re listening and want your vote. But they don’t want to allow your voice if it disagrees, especially on social media,” 18 October 2026, with its data: Rohini Reah Arora, 0 of 54 campaign posts restricted (Instagram 0 of 53, X 0 of 1). Read signed in, without clicking, 17 October 2026. backcountry.cx
  29. ↩ Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Votes index, Second Session, 43rd Parliament, 2026: “Kooner, Steve (Richmond-Queensborough),” voting with the Conservative opposition. leg.bc.ca
  30. ↩ Our search for Peter Si’s own statements, 18 October 2026: web search on his name with Burnaby, Burnaby East and the Conservatives; Freshet News; the Burnaby Board of Trade’s candidate page (which carries his party biography); voche.me; and the party’s site. We found no interview or platform of his own, and no personal social media account. Burnaby Now could not be read (bot check, not bypassed). Note: research/swing-ridings/swing-burnaby-east/search-note.txt.
  31. ↩ 338Canada, “Burnaby East,” latest update 16 October 2026, read 18 October 2026: rated “NDP leaning”; projected vote BC NDP 46% ± 8%, Conservatives 41% ± 8%, BC Greens 10% ± 5%, OneBC 3% ± 4%. It is a projection based on polls, not a poll. 338canada.com
  32. ↩ Elections BC, 2024 Provincial General Election, Burnaby East, final results as tabulated with their Elections BC sources on Wikipedia’s riding page, read 18 October 2026: Rohini Arora (BC NDP) 10,490 votes, 51.85%; Simon Chandler (Conservative) 8,198, 40.52%; Tara Shushtarian (Green) 1,544, 7.63%. wikipedia.org
  33. ↩ Elections BC, “2026 Provincial Election,” read 18 October 2026: campaign period begins September 22, 2026; advance voting October 16 to 21, 2026; Final Voting Day October 24, 2026; and the Where to Vote application. elections.bc.ca

Sources were read on 17 and 18 October 2026. Each post card re-sets the words of the post exactly as published, with the post it answered shown inside it; the highlights are ours. Portraits: Reah Arora, BC NDP; Peter Si, Conservative Party of BC; Javad Shushtarian and De Ding, from their Burnaby Board of Trade candidate pages. Inside each post card, the small avatar is the account’s own X profile image. Header photo: Burnaby Lake, by Claire Ellison, 2016, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Burnaby Hospital photo by Stephen Ray, 2020, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.