Cyberspace disgrace plagues a fresh crop of candidates
From Muslims to abortion, nothing seems off limits in politicians’ online activity
When will they learn? In what has become a recurring theme in this election, yet more federal candidates drew unwanted attention to themselves this week with online activity that ranged from inflammatory to the downright inexplicable. Warning of murder Press Progress published screen grabs Tuesday that appeared to show the Conservative candidate for Sarnia-Lambton making controversial Facebook posts about immigration and religion. (Press Progress is a political website backed by the Broadbent Institute, a left-wing think tank). In one 2014 entry, Marilyn Gladu allegedly linked to a video about Muslim immigrants in the U.K. and wrote: “People come to a country with certain values, and now want to kill everyone else.”
Gladu’s campaign didn’t return requests for comment. But according to the Sarnia Observer, Gladu said she couldn’t confirm she made the remarks because she hadn’t seen the story on Press Progress. However, she said that Canada needs immigrants and she had no “issue” with them coming here from diverse backgrounds. Astounding ignorance? What’s worse than a politician making a penis joke? A politician making a penis joke about Auschwitz. In a 2008 Facebook post unearthed by the True North Times, Alex Johnstone, NDP candidate for Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas, described as “phallic” the fence posts in an online photo of the infamous Nazi death camp. “(O)f course you took pictures of this! It expresses how the curve is normal, natural, and healthy right!” she wrote. On Tuesday she offered an “unreserved apology” and said there was no malice in her comments. But Johnstone may have compounded her problems by admitting to the Hamilton Spectator that she hadn’t heard of Auschwitz before this week. Alarming comparisons Gordon Giesbrecht, the Conservatives’ man in Winnipeg South, was under fire for a video he posted online in 2009 in which he compared abortion to the Holocaust and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In the footage, Giesbrecht claims the number of abortions performed in North America since the procedure was legalized amounts to “a 9/11 every day for the past 35 years.” His campaign manager said Giesbrecht’s views wouldn’t influence party policy on abortion rights, however. “The prime minister has been very clear that our government will not reopen this debate,” said Olivia Baldwin-Valainis. Baffling ideas Peter Njenga might be thinking of curtailing his online activity after the True North Times published several of his puzzling online posts. In one, the Abbotsford Liberal candidate suggested refugees should receive assistance but “our citizens come first.” The remark surfaced as his party urges government to do more to aid refugees fleeing violence in the Middle East. Perhaps more bizarre was a Facebook entry in which Njenga said society’s dependence on oil could be curbed if cars were modified to use “free air to generate engine power.” Wednesday night on Facebook he apologized for his “offensive comments,” which he said didn’t reflect the Liberal party’s views.