Political staffer at centre of antisemitic social media post fired

Premier Tim Houston has fired a political staffer, a day after the Progressive Conservative Party identified the person who made an antisemitic post on the staffer's social media account.

Nargis DeMolitor, a former Tory candidate who was working as an advisor to Immigration Minister Jill Balser, apologized earlier this week for a post on her X account that referred to Israel as "the Nazi's of 21st century."

In a subsequent post, DeMolitor said her account had been hacked.

The Tories said on Tuesday they determined the unauthorized access to DeMolitor's account was by a party member. That person's party membership was stripped.

"Even though the access was unauthorized, it was made easier by the actions of a provincial employee who shared social media login information with an individual outside of government," Premier Tim Houston told MLAs in Province House in Halifax on Wednesday.

"This was also an obvious breach of trust. As a result of that breach of trust, that individual [DeMolitor] no longer works for the province. There is no place for hate in the PC Party or in Nova Scotia."

Zero tolerance for hate

Houston told reporters that the investigation was conducted by party staff and that the province's cybersecurity unit also looked into the matter. He said the fact that DeMolitor's account was connected to a government official comes with certain responsibilities.

"We must have zero tolerance and must always stand up against discrimination and hate," Houston told the House.

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill said he wants to make sure appropriate protocols were followed, including contacting the province's privacy commissioner if necessary.

He said all elected officials should take note.

"People manage our social media accounts, some of us. We need to know what best practices are and what we can do to protect ourselves from this sort of thing happening again," he told reporters.

"In order to do that I think we do need to hear from cybersecurity and know if the proper protocol was followed to look at this."

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said she was glad to see the matter dealt with.

"It's a very challenging time in the world right now — it's very challenging for Nova Scotians — and I think this is a moment to take inventory and to make sure that as leaders we are acting in a way that helps to provide leadership and calm to ease tensions.