An New Democratic Party candidate in Nova Scotia has suddenly resigned from the federal election campaign amid a controversy over comments he allegedly made about the Middle East on Facebook.
In an August, 2014 posting, Morgan Wheeldon, the now former official NDP candidate in the Annapolis Valley riding of Kings-Hants, allegedly said, “one could argue that Israel’s intention was always to ethnically cleanse the region.”
The post has been deleted, but the Conservative Party is circulating a screengrab.
Brad Lavigne, an NDP campaign adviser, said the comments were “not in line” with the NDP position and when the party approached Wheeldon with this information, he submitted his resignation.
Meanwhile, higher up on the political pecking order, Conservative leader Stephen Harper on Monday upped the ante on his party’s tough-on-terror strategy, saying the Liberals and the NDP would fight insurgents overseas by doing little more than quote: “dropping aid on dead people.”
Elsewhere, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau dismissed Mr. Harper’s promised legislation to outlaw travel to areas by Canadians to areas controlled by terror groups, calling it political posturing and an attempt to draw attention away from the Tories’ economic record.
NDP leader Tom Mulcair did not get involved in the debate on Monday.
He had his hands full in Toronto, where he was confronted about his position on a pipeline.
A handful of protesters demanded to know if Mr. Mulcair would oppose the Energy East pipeline if it proved incompatible with national action on climate change.
After Mulcair replied “yes,” the protesters were removed by security.
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