NDP guilty of 'double standard' after silence on Wab Kinew's misogynistic lyrics: Tories

Past offensive, misogynistic comments made by former Liberal candidate Jamie Hall and years-old lyrics by current NDP candidate Wab Kinew "calls into question the judgment of both the Bokhari Liberals and the Selinger NDP," the Manitoba Progressive Conservatives say.

"Hateful comments like those made by former Liberal candidate Jamie Hall (Southdale) and current NDP candidate Wab Kinew (Fort Rouge) devalue and degrade women and have no place in 2016 in rap music, literature or politics," Fort Rouge PC candidate Audrey Gordon told reporters Friday.

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The Tories said just as Bokhari remained silent for a day on the Hall controversy immediately, Premier Greg Selinger's response to Kinew's earlier remarks about women is also lacking.

"Selinger has likewise shown poor judgment in his refusal to condemn the objectionable words of his candidate in Fort Rouge, despite expressing outrage at similar comments made by the former Liberal candidate for Southdale," Gordon said.

The Liberals dropped Hall Thursday as the party's Southdale candidate, a day after inappropriate tweets he made a few years ago about "whores" and "skanks" surfaced. 

"Ms. [Rana] Bokhari showed poor judgment in both her choice of candidate for Southdale and her decision not to immediately remove him and condemn his comments," Gordon said. 

"Ms. Bokhari took 24 hours to think about it — what's there to think about? Wrong is wrong," she added.

Gordon's comments, the first on the matter from the PCs, come a full two days after Hall's tweets were put under the microscope.

Among the tweets that landed Hall in hot water was one referring to his girlfriend as a "skank." Hall claimed the term was on balance with a word like "jerk" within his circle of friends.

In an exclusive interview with CBC News Thursday, Hall said he won't censor himself or delete those tweets. "I'm owning my words 100 per cent," he said, adding the comments were made in jest.

'No place for misogyny'

Kinew has also been thrust into the conversation. The former CBC broadcaster and hip-hop artist previously referred to women as "bitches" and "whores" in his music. Kinew says he acknowledged and apologized for those and other problematic lyrics in his 2015 book, The Reason You Walk.

"I think I've been very up front about the fact that I've changed the way I view things and recognize there's no place for misogyny … especially given the issue of missing and murdered women and gender-based violence," Kinew said Thursday.

Gordon accused the Selinger government of toying with double standards, saying they were quick to call for Hall's head but haven't acted on Kinew's past comments.

"The comments that have been made are offensive to the people in Fort Rouge, they're offensive to me and there is no place for it in politics or in society in general.

"I really believe that today the issue is that a double standard has been demonstrated by Mr. Selinger and the NDP government in terms of calling on one party to have their candidate removed while not doing the same for their own."

Gordon finished by lauding the PCs internal, "very thorough and intensive vetting process" that extends to candidates' personal social media accounts.

"It has led to an amazing roster of candidates, 20 of those candidates being women, who are ready to serve the people of Manitoba."

She added Manitoba voters will get their chance to weigh in on Kinew's lyrics and apology when they head to the polls April. 19.

"While genuine, unequivocal apologies may open the door to lessons learned and a path to healing, I would like the people of Fort Rouge to listen to Mr. Kinew's lyrics — I have — before they judge the sincerity of his qualified apology," Gordon said.