UCP DUMPS COULTER
Party cites Soldiers of Odin comments
The United Conservative Party has disqualified a candidate seeking its Edmonton-West Henday nomination after he defended appearing in photos with members of the Soldiers of Odin.
UCP executive director Janice Harrington told candidate Lance Coulter in a letter Thursday he’s out of the race after the party ’s nominations committee disqualified him upon reviewing transcripts of his comments about the photos.
“We strongly disagree with your seemingly sympathetic assessment of Soldiers of Odin and are frankly disturbed with your cavalier attitude taken to a hate group attending a United Conservative Party event,” Harrington wrote. “This incident has resulted in reputational harm to our party and its many members.”
Coulter has not returned requests for comment, but was unapologetic in a Thursday Facebook post about his disqualification.
Thanking his supporters, he said their kind words have only strengthened his resolve to do what he believes is right.
“I will not lie for political expedience, I will not simply smile and tell people what I think they want to hear, I will treat all people with dignity and respect,” he wrote on Facebook.
He later added another post saying he will appeal the decision.
The problems for Coulter and other Edmonton-West Henday candidates began last Friday when members of Soldiers of Odin — an anti-immigration, white nationalist organization — showed up at the constituency association’s pub night. Coulter and his competitors, Leila Houle and Nicole Williams, were photographed with members wearing Soldiers of Odin vests and hats.
The women quickly distanced themselves from the group, saying they had no idea who they were.
Coulter said before a candidate forum Wednesday that he knew who the group was before he agreed to photos with them thanks to a quick Google search that night.
He said he also found articles where the organization disavowed racism, “so I thought I’d give them the benefit of the doubt and have a conversation with them.”
He said “they were acting friendly ” and believed the issue had been “blown way out of proportion.”
That wasn’t good enough for the UCP committee.
“A polite racist is still a racist,” Harrington wrote, referring to the Soldiers of Odin.
She said in the letter to Coulter that his comments showed he failed to act in the best interests of the party and its members.
News broke about Coulter’s elimination as Premier Rachel Notley held a news conference about legal aid funding in the legislature building.
“There is no room for debate about how much racism is OK. Let’s just start there,” Notley said. “There is a line that I believe the vast majority of Albertans understand exists, and the concept of neo-Nazism is well past that line. It’s on the very distant other side of the line,” she said.