A defense group that fights Islamophobia urges the Canada Conservative Party (CPC) to eliminate a candidate from the London area, the Ontario area of the federal electoral vote on their previous comments on marginalized groups, including the Muslim community, women and 2SLGBTQ+groups.
The Hikma Public Affairs Council, based in London, asks for an “unequivocal rejection” of Andrew Lawton as a candidate in Elgin -ST. Thomas-London South based on his “well-documented pattern of deeply offensive and discriminatory comments,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Including the Islamophobic, anti-Semitic, homophobic, misogynist and anti-indigenous comment, Mr. Lawton has constantly demonstrated behavior fundamentally incompatible with the values of a democratic and inclusive society, especially in London.”
Hikma said he is deeply concerned about Lawton’s divisive record.
“Public office is not a platform for personal prejudices,” the statement said. “It is a public trustee. That trust should not be placed in people who have repeatedly demonstrated contempt for the same communities they would pretend to serve.”
When he contacted to comment on Tuesday, Lawton directed CBC News to his Facebook publication on March 14, which said that while facing a long battle with mental health challenges, it was “reckless, self -destructive, he said and did deeply harmful things.”
“For me, at the time of my illness, social networks became an unfortunate and extremely negative exit. My previous comments as a young man have been published extensively and I remain deeply ashamed of my behavior during this period.
“I can’t undo my past, but I can live with the example and remain the best man I can be,” Lawton wrote.
Lawton is a former journalist who organized a daily radio program in 980 CFPL in London and was a managing editor of the right -line publication True North. He also wrote a biography published in May about the political career of the conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.
Lawton was recently criticized for his participation in a group chat that included leaders of what became the convoy of freedom during a federal investigation into the use of the liberal government of the Emergency Law to end the protests 2022. The story was reported for the first time by Friday by the news organization online Pressprors.
In a statement to CBC News on Friday, CPC spokesman Sam Lilly said: “As a journalist, Mr. Lawton communicated regularly with a variety of sources through his reports on the Public Order Emergency Commission.
“Mr. Lawton wrote the only journalistic story of the convoy of freedom, which was cited in evidence as an objective description of the protests: The convoy of freedom: the Internal history three weeks that shook the world. Mr. Lawton left the group after the commission hearings ended. “
Local residents protest Lawton’s candidacy
Last July, Lawton sought a CPC nomination in riding that has been a conservative fortress for decades, after Karen Vecchio, deputy since 2004, announced that he would not seek re -election.
Lawton runs against liberal candidate David Goodwin, Paul Pight of the Democratic Party and Oriana Knox of the Green Party.
This is not the first time that Lawton’s past is under scrutiny. He was running in London during the 2018 provincial elections, but was retired by the progressive conservatives of Prime Minister Doug Ford after social networks comments made Islam condemn and gay marriage had resurfaced.
Some of these include an X publication, previously Twitter of 2011, in which he wrote: “I am thinking of starting a totally Muslim basketball team. Hezballers will be called.” In another publication of the same year, Lawton wrote: “I left the Anglican church when they made the decision to allow homosexual marriage.”
At that time, Lawton blamed his struggle for mental illness for controversial tweets. He is volunteer at the Middlesex-London Suicide Prevention Board.
However, that justification does not reduce it for some people in the rural riding that Lawton is competing for representing this federal choice. They said Lawton has not been made available to voters to explain or express remorse for their previous comments.
“I have heard a lot of rejection of the community with people who have also fought with mental health problems and feel that it is quite insulting that this type of perspective is relieved of all their past sins online,” said Christine Rudman, a resident of Port Stanley.
“It has a long history of comments and fairly atrocious comments and behaviors. [cisgender] men.”
“Elgin County’s motto is progressive by nature: a proud expression of the values of growth, inclusion and leadership to vision of our region,” said Devon Church, a member of the Pride of Elgin County.
“The public registry and personal opinions of Mr. Lawton contrast with this vision. His ideology does not reflect progress; reflects the regression. Choosing it would move back, not forward.”
Rudman, a retired social worker, is among a group that plans to protest in the Lawton’s campaign office in St. Thomas on Saturday that, according to her, will help people make an informed decision.
“It is not about red or blue. In this rural community, people vote blue … They do not vote for the candidate, they simply vote the color, and I think it is really important now that people understand the values and ethics of the person they vote for.”
More than half a dozen liberal and conservative candidates have been withdrawn from the party tickets in the first two weeks of the campaign prior to the April 28 vote on their controversial statements. The deadline to replace those candidates ended Monday.
