Sask. NDP drops candidate Clayton Wilson over offensive tweets
Clayton Wilson's election run cut short after old social media posts with offensive comments surfaced
An NDP candidate's election run is over after an insulting post on social media making light of domestic violence surfaced.
Saskatchewan NDP leader Cam Broten released a statement Thursday afternoon confirming the party has removed Saskatoon-Northwest candidate Clayton Wilson for a meme he posted on social media in 2011. This is the second time in as many days that Wilson's social media activity has been questioned.
In a prepared statement Broten said any comment which treats violence against women lightly is disgusting.
"The Internet is certainly full of bad and inappropriate jokes and no one wants a campaign where every old retweet or Facebook post is dragged out in "gotcha" politics, but violence against women is a serious issue and comments which take sexual harassment lightly are below the standard we should all expect from our elected representatives," Broten said in a release.
"Any comment which treats violence against women lightly is disgusting, period."
This week Wilson found himself in hot water for calling some farmers "stupid" for lobbying for the termination of the Canadian Wheat Board.
In a Thursday morning scrum Broten told reporters the party looks at backgrounds of all candidates, adding Wilson apologized for the "stupid farmers" comment and Broten said he accepted the apology.