NDP defends Alta. hopeful’s Instagram post

OTTAWA— The NDP was forced to defend one of its Alberta candidates late Friday after a now-deleted Instagram photograph from five years ago surfaced showing her husband posing in a photo alongside a man brandishing what looks like a handgun. New Democrat Leader Thomas Mulcair said he hadn’t seen the photograph of Katherine Swampy, the NDP candidate for Battle RiverCrowfoot, and couldn’t comment.

A number of profanity-laced Facebook posts from 2011 attributed to Swampy were published by the Huffington Post. Screengrabs of the posts were shared on Twitter Friday.

“F--- u rabbit bitches keep talking all ur s--t, what was it u decided to write on my wall and decided to erase, WHAT?” reads one screengrab from a post on Feb. 22, 2011.

Swampy apologized for “a past heated exchange” on her Facebook page in which profanity was used.

Swampy did not apologize for the photo.

In a statement to CTV, the NDP said the gun in the photo was “clearly” a toy.

Ill-advised social media posts have forced several candidates out of the election, including at least two Conservatives and a Liberal.