Questions about vetting process as Ontario Liberals rule out third candidate in 3 days

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For the third time in as many days, the Ontario Liberal Party has eliminated another candidate, this time after the NDP discovered discriminatory social media posts made when the candidate was 13 years old.

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On Thursday, spokeswoman Andrea Ernesaks confirmed to the National mail that Alec Mazurek has been eliminated as the Liberal Party candidate for Chatham-Kent-Leamington, just hours before Thursday’s 2pm candidate deadline.

Facebook posts from eight years ago were revealed in a Thursday morning news release from the Ontario NDP, with photo comments posted by a now-deactivated Facebook account allegedly owned by Mazurek.

Two of the comments, made as comments to photos posted by friends, referred to the friends as “faggots”, while a third thread shows the account commenting “1 good bitch is worth 1000 bad bitches” and while a third replies to a friend who called him a “swag fg” with the reply “YES I AM A SWAGGOT”. JEALOUS STILL?!?”

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Unaware of Mazurek’s comments when questioned by the media on Thursday morning, Liberal leader Steven Del Duca vowed to take action if the allegations turned out to be true.

“I think it’s really important for leaders to take decisive action when candidate behavior that’s irresponsible, that’s reckless, that’s not what we stand for, is dealt with in the most decisive way possible,” he told reporters.

“I will take a look immediately after this event and if that is the case, he will no longer be a candidate for us.”

By Thursday morning, Mazurek’s campaign website and social media accounts were taken offline.

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Mazurek’s firing is the latest in what has become a bad week for Ontario’s Liberal candidates.

On Tuesday, Ontario Liberals confirmed that high school student Aidan Kallioinen was no longer their candidate in Sault Ste. Marie after being associated with discriminatory and insensitive online comments, as well as being linked to an Instagram account titled “SlapMineNutsMC.” .

The eighteen year old he defended himself to the Ssupreme star claiming he was the victim of identity theft, claiming that now-deleted comments made on online gaming forums joking about people “died of AIDS” were not made by him.

“I can tell you they weren’t my posts,” he told the Sault Star’s Elaine Della-Mattia.

“I was about 13 or 14 years old when I was part of that online gaming forum for Minecraft and those comments were not made by me. Someone has been using my identity, without my knowledge.”

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Kallioinen’s candidacy was the subject of local controversy after a column by Sabrina Maddeaux for the National Post, alleging that the party rejected the candidacy of indigenous lawyer and human rights advocate Naomi Sayers in favor of putting the young white man on the ballot. .

That came a day before Parry Sound-Muskoka Liberal candidate Barry Stanley was kicked out of the party after the Toronto Star discovered the retired teacher had written a book suggesting homosexuality is caused by brain damage. by babies inhaling their own carbon dioxide.

Three high-profile evictions are raising questions about the Liberals’ vetting process.

A party statement said the vetting process of candidates “never stops” during election campaigns.

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“We constantly ensure that our team reflects our province and that will remain the case throughout the writing period,” the statement read.

Ontario PCs were also in damage control this week after a Press Progress article accused Cabinet Minister Stephen Lecce of participating in a fraternity “slave auction” event in 2006 while a student at Western University.

Progressive Conservative leader Doug Ford expressed his support for his education minister, who offered an apology for participating in the event.

Candidate research, said Peter Graefe, a professor of political science at McMaster University, is one of the most challenging jobs parties face in elections, particularly in modern times, where commentary long forgotten but potentially can be career-ending could lurk in virtually anyone’s social media activity.

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“It turned out that (Ontario Liberals) missed their message at least two days this week,” he said.

“So if you think they only have 28 days to get to Ontarians, you know they’ve spent 14.”

Graefe noted that kicking out misbehaving candidates is an occupational hazard in every election, suggesting how difficult it is for parties to guarantee a squeaky clean ballot.

“When preparing a campaign, it is preferable that people work on the messages instead of going through more than a decade of posts on Facebook and Twitter just to see if there is something unfortunate in what they said,” he saddened.

“It’s a big job, probably one that the parties aren’t happy to have to do, because it’s very labor intensive, but it’s not really that related to running the campaign, except to avoid losing days with this guy. of news”.