The Canadian Council of Imams says the conservative candidate in central Nova Scotia must resign because his apology for Islamophobic media posts was an insincere attempt at damage control.
Two weeks ago, Steven Cotter apologized on Facebook for previous posts he made about Islamic law and support for a ban on the burqa worn by some Muslim women.
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However, the imams say that when Cotter met with local Muslim leaders on September 15, he repeated his apology but “declined to say anything more” in response to questions about what he would do to address Islamophobia.
The imams say they can only interpret Cotter’s silence as a refusal to reflect and learn as he promised to do in his apology, and they say requests to the Conservative Party for more commitments were rejected.
Conservative leader Erin O’Toole fired a Toronto candidate for Islamophobic social media posts that she says are not hers, but she kept Cotter in the race.
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O’Toole expels a CCP candidate for Islamophobic tweets, but keeps another active
O’Toole told The Canadian Press on September 11 that he wanted to retain candidates on a team that would unite the country and help restore the economy.
© 2021 The Canadian Press
Reference-globalnews.ca