Both the Liberal and Conservative Parties lost candidates this week for their past public comments.
Late Monday night, Paul Chiang resigned as the Liberal candidate in Markham—Unionville over comments he made in January while at a Chinese media conference, telling the audience to turn in CPC Don Valley North candidate Joe Tay to the Chinese consulate in Toronto to collect a bounty on him. Hong Kong police had a bounty out for Tay’s arrest over alleged violations of a national security law in Beijing.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney had initially stood by Chiang, calling his comment "deeply offensive" on Monday but noting Chiang had since apologized to Tay directly.
But he was dogged by questions about Chiang’s fitness to represent a diverse riding home to a significant Chinese diaspora, and shortly before midnight Monday, Chiang announced he was stepping down.
Meanwhile, the Conservative Party told CTV News that Mark McKenzie was out as the candidate in Windsor—Tecumseh—Lakeshore. The broadcaster had obtained a podcast recording of McKenzie talking about bringing back the death penalty in some cases.
“But again, like a Paul Bernardo, just (expletive) kill that guy. Why are my tax dollars going to keep that guy alive? Charles Manson, people like that, Jeffrey Dahmer, you know what I’m saying. If you’re 100 per cent certain. Epstein, you know, this is what I’m saying, Justin Trudeau,” McKenzie said, according to CTV's report.
—With files from Palak Mangat of Parliament Today.
