Social media culls NDP candidate
R EGINA • Social media has brought down a second NDP candidate in the Saskatchewan election.
Mark Jeworski, who was running i n Weyburn- Big Muddy against Health Minister Dustin Duncan, resigned Friday after a screen grab of his Facebook page circulated with the post: “Brad Wall’s mother should have taken the abortion pill.”
NDP Leader Cam Broten called the comment, posted on Aug. 8, 2015, offensive and inappropriate.
“This candidate stepped down, he’s off the team. He did so for personal reasons,” Broten said.
“A comment like that, of course, is not appropriate, but he made a personal decision and he’s off the team.”
In addition to the abortion comment, there were other inflammatory posts on the same Facebook page attributed to Jeworski and circulated by the governing Saskatchewan Party.
On the night of the federal election, following Justin Trudeau’s victory on Oct. 19, 2015, a post from the account of Jeworski read: “On the bright side with pot going to be legal I can be high as f— when Canada falls apart, but I’ll be high and not care.” Later in that same thread, a post from Jeworski read: “Well I’m pulling out in the spring, why put myself through s—!!! F— it.”
Jeworski could not immediately be reached for comment.
A day earlier, Broten removed Saskatoon Northwest candidate Clayton Wilson because of questionable posts on Facebook.
One of the candidate’s posts in 2013 circulated by the Saskatchewan Party shows a photo with the words: “A true gentleman holds the door for his woman then smacks her ass.” Above the image is written: “True, ladies?”
Broten said he doesn’t tolerate inappropriate comments on social media. But the NDP leader also says he doesn’t think this will be a trend where people will continue to be pressured by their past use of social media.
“I don’t t hink anyone wants t his campaign to spiral down into a thing where it’s trolling through Facebook and Twitter accounts and finding every example of a bad joke ( or) off- coloured statement,” Broten said at a campaign announcement Friday in Saskatoon.
Premier Brad Wall, who was also in Saskatoon, said candidates are vetted. “The Internet’s a big place and so it’s difficult to know for sure you’ve found everything or seen everything,” said Wall.
“I think this is a fact of life in society today. If you were applying for a job or I was applying for a job, I’d expect there to be due diligence by the company.”
Charles Smith, a political science professor at the University of Saskatchewan, says he’s surprised this is still happening.
“The first thing any candidate or party should be doing, before they sign off on nomination papers, is to be vetting social media accounts for disturbing content or politically damaging content,” said Smith.