Sask. Party releases more questionable NDP social media posts

The Saskatchewan Party has released more questionable social media posts from another NDP candidate.

This time the candidate is Adam Duke who is running in the constituency of Humboldt-Watrous.

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The posts are from Facebook and date back to 2011.

One of them says: "Not sure if this guy is tanned or brown skinned. Told me he is going to see his family. Didn't tell me if that family is alive or dead. #terrorist." 

In a statement accompanying the release of screen captures of the posts, a spokesperson for the Saskatchewan Party said "the remarks speak for themselves." 

A spokesperson for the Saskatchewan NDP responded to questions about the posts noting that the party was aware of Duke's posts and obtained explanations for them.

According to the spokesperson, Duke was being sarcastic because he was frustrated about racial profiling in society. The spokesperson, in an email to news media, added that Duke apologized for the posts and the party's leader, Cam Broten, had accepted his apology.

Earlier in the campaign, four candidates were dropped by the NDP because of their activity on social media. Two of those candidates had their posts raised by the Saskatchewan Party.

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All four of those candidates have since been replaced by the NDP.

Broten said Thursday that he believes the Saskatchewan Party was highlighting social media posts as a means of distracting voters from issues that he has been raising in the election campaign.

"Mr. Wall would love to make this about tweets and Facebook and all the rest," Broten said. "You know why? Because he doesn't want to talk about the fact that he's not bringing forward a budget."

When asked about his own use of social media, Broten said he has always been careful about what he posts adding that he understands mistakes can happen.

"People sometimes make mistakes," he said. "The important thing to do is, when a problem is identified, act to address it."

Even though the party's spokesperson said earlier in the day that Broten had accepted an apology from Duke, when asked it, at a campaign event, the NDP leader said he would need to look into it further.

"I'm not aware of what comments you're speaking of, so I'll have to look into that and I'd be happy to provide comment later on," Broten said.