NDP recruits former candidate to replace Jonasson

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This article was published 28/09/2015 (3675 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The federal NDP went back in time to find a replacement candidate for the ousted Stefan Jonasson in Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headingley.

A party source confirmed to the Free Press Tom Paulley, a retired corrections officer who finished second to MP Steven Fletcher in 2011, was recruited to run again.

Jonasson was forced to step down last week after Facebook comments he made a few years ago comparing the ultra-orthodox Haredim Jews to the Taliban surfaced on a blog. Jonasson has expressed disappointment the party did not stand behind him and said the comparison was about their oppression of women, not terrorist activity.

However the NDP dropped him within hours of the comments being made public.

There are at least 17 candidates who have been removed or stepped down since the campaign began August 2, although not all the candidates outed for saying controversial things have been forced out.

Gordon Giesbrecht, for example, who said abortion is worse than the impact of the Holocaust, is still running for the Conservatives in Winnipeg South. Liberal candidate Chris Brown in Alberta gets to stay after blaming sexist and profanity-laced rants on social media on alcoholism brought on by the death of his spouse. The NDP did not fire Hamilton, Ontario candidate Alex Johnstone who said she only made comments suggesting fence posts outside the notorious Nazi death camp Auschwitz were phallic because she dind’t know what Auschwitz was.

Manitoba now has a full slate of candidates from all four national parties in all 14 ridings.