The press release was issued on May 25, 2018, by the Ontario PC Party on behalf of Sudbury riding candidate Troy Crowder and Nickel Belt candidate Jo-Ann Cardinal
TORONTO — Yet another NDP candidate has been exposed for holding extreme and hateful views well outside the Canadian mainstream. Today, Ontario PC candidates Gila Martow and Todd Smith shared details on the NDP’s troubling history of courting anti-Semitic candidates, including a Scarborough-area candidate with a history of sharing pro-Nazi memes.
“The NDP clearly continues to have a problem with allowing the anti-Semites to fester in the dark corners of their party,” said Smith. “We’ve already shone a light on the 9/11 truthers and militant anti-Israel BDS supporters running for the NDP. But today, however, we have the most serious example of anti-Semitism we have seen in Ontario politics for a long, long time.”
Smith and Martow highlighted the documented social media history of Scarborough-Agincourt NDP candidate Tasleem Riaz. Ms. Riaz has previously drawn attention to herself in 2011 through her offensive online commentary accusing the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces of committing war crimes.
Even more disturbingly, Ms. Riaz would later follow up her activism by posting and sharing a neo-Nazi meme that shared an ‘inspirational’ quote from Adolf Hitler whom she glowingly referred to as ‘the ruler.’
“You don’t post this kind of thing by accident. You don’t openly push Nazi messages on social media by mistake,” said Ms. Martow. “It goes without saying that keeping Ms. Riaz on a ballot in this election is offensive to every Jewish person in Ontario. Just as it is offensive to every race and nationality who were murdered by Ms. Riaz’s apparent hero. Frankly, it’s offensive to all Ontarians with any sense of human decency.”
“When Ontarians pull back the curtain and reveal the real NDP, it is clear that they will not like what they see,” concluded Smith. “Horwath doesn’t get to laugh and shrug this away. If she actually opposes the anti-Semitism festering in her party she will take immediate action against Ms. Riaz today.”
What NDP candidates have done or said:
Tasleem Riaz, NDP Candidate (Scarborough-Agincourt):
A meme that allegedly appeared on Riaz's personal Facebook page that shows an image of Adolf Hitler saluting and a quote reading "If you don't like a Rule ... Just Follow it ... Reach on the Top ... and Change the Rule," which is then attributed to Hitler.
Rima Berns-McGown, NDP Candidate (Beaches East York):
"Palestinians have borne the brunt of Jews’ traumatized reaction to the Holocaust — such that a fringe idea at the end of the 19th century has become Jewish identity orthodoxy." (Blog, http://web.archive.org/web/20130517170505/http://rimabernsmcgown.tumblr.com/)
“Netanyahu and his ilk play the Holocaust card every time they counter international criticism. It’s completely instrumental: how can you say no to a man whose relatives were shoved into an oven while your relatives said nothing? But you must. You must say no.” - Rima Berns-McGown, Beaches-East York (Blog)
Laura Kaminker, NDP Candidate (Mississauga Centre):
“Hamas is an officially designated terrorist organization as defined by the US, Israel, and the EU, and since Canada takes its marching orders from the US, by Canada as well. According to much of the world, including many citizens of those same countries, that is one very large, powerful pot name-calling a small, freedom-fighting kettle.” - Laura Kaminker, Mississauga Centre (Blog, October 22, 2012)
Joel Harden, NDP Candidate (Ottawa Centre):
“I was very honest with them and they were clear with me when they vetted my nomination papers. I said, “if I’m asked a question about what I think about BDS for example, I’m not going to pretend that that’s somebody I’m not. I’m going to say, on a personal level I support BDS.” ...That’s my own personal belief, and I’ll say it to anyone who asks. But is the provincial party there? No, they’re not there. But should people who read Socialist Worker see me as somebody they can know as an ally, who won’t change?” (Socialist.ca)
