MaryAnn Mihychuk calls for better Liberal vetting process following Jamie Hall controversy
'Obviously this missed the mark and they should have caught it,' Mihychuk said at the party's AGM in Winnipeg
MaryAnn Mihychuk, a Manitoba Liberal MP and federal minister, says her provincial counterparts must do a better job at vetting candidates following the discovery of derogatory comments made by one of the party's former candidates on social media.
On Wednesday, Jamie Hall, who, at the time, was the Manitoba Liberals' newest candidate, was debating whether he would stay in the election after the New Democratic Party ordered him to step down over tweets he posted in in 2012 calling women "whores."
On Thursday, he left the race and the Liberal Party cut ties with him.
Mihychuk said the controversy demonstrates that the Liberals must implement practices that will screen candidates effectively.
"It says that the Liberal Party in Manitoba must have more robust measures," she said.
"Running for the federal Liberals, they did a complete scan of everything, I tell you, that I had in my closet."
Still, she said the party is doing the best it can and that approving Hall as a candidate was a mistake.
"You have to pull together resources; that's not always easy," she said. "Obviously this missed the mark and they should have caught it."
Mihychuk made the comments at the Liberal Party's annual general meeting in Winnipeg, which started on Friday.