LIBERALS have dug up ‘dirt’ on some NDP candidates. They say the collection includes people who compare police with Nazis and support anti-Israeli activism, insult the Indo-Canadian community, claim special exemption on human rights votes, and even disagree with the party’s longstanding equity policy.
“John Horgan needs to explain why he handpicked these individuals,” said Liberal candidate Todd Stone. “Does Horgan condone these kinds of comparisons, anti-Israeli activism, and insults to communities that have helped make B.C. the strong, diverse place it is today?”
In Courtenay-Comox, NDP candidate Ronna-Rae Leonard equated police officers with Adolf Hitler’s Nazis. In a post actively shared by Ronna-Rae Leonard on Facebook, Nazis are seen searching people with the caption: “Don’t disobey the law and you wont have to worry about the police. Said every Nazi just before they killed 11 million people.”
She also supports anti-Israeli activism. Leonard invited people to support Haneen Zoubi, a noted anti-Israeli politician.
In Burnaby-Lougheed, the NDP candidate has denigrated the Indo-Canadian community. Katrina Chen says Indo-Canadians only run because they want profile and don’t know much about politics.
“In the overseas community, unfortunately, sometimes you see immigrants running because they want the name. They actually don’t know the politics very well yet. And sometimes local parties support them because they need the immigrants vote. Like from the Indo-Canadian community for example,” said Chen.
Over in Columbia River-Revelstoke, NDP candidate Gerry Taft has denounced the very equity mandate that enabled him to contest and win a nomination against Spring Hawes.
“My other problem with the ‘barriers to participation’ argument- is that I don’t actually believe in Invermere, in Columbia River Revelstoke, or likely in most of BC – there are systematic barriers to political participation,” he wrote in emails earlier this year.
And in Richmond South Centre, NDP candidate Chak Au has told media that John Horgan promised him he could break with the NDP on key issues.
“I told them if these issues should arise in the future I will vote according to my conscience and I got their promise that I am able to vote according to my morals and beliefs. So because I got this guarantee, I joined the NDP,” Au told Fairchild Television.