If you’ve been following The True North Times’ “Nine Days of Scandal”, you already know the name Alex Johnstone. She is the NDP candidate for Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas. We revealed Facebook posts she made from yesteryear, where she brought unprecedented insight into the eerily phallus-shaped fence posts found in the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz.
Our story ignited a firestorm, and predictably, caused Johnstone to issue a public apology. She had some kind words for The True North Times. “For them to go in and to dig up something from long ago and — again I have no memory of making the comments — it’s mudslinging and that’s what turns people off,” she said.
Furthermore, she earned our most humble apology when she said “Well, I didn’t know what Auschwitz was, or I didn’t up until today.”
How does a school trustee and vice-chair of the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board not know what Auschwitz is, you ask? Well, you’ve answered your own question. It’s Hamilton. Let’s not badger her lack of knowledge.
How could she know that these electrified fences were of an infamous, Poland-based death camp? It’s not like she called it “infamous” or “Polish.” Maybe she thought it was an abstract expressionist’s depiction of martial-law declaring Wojciech Jaruzelski. We all make that mistake.
In any case, Johnstone claims “the community is more interested in the values and principles that I have been standing for, particularly in this election.”
Let’s hope one of those principles is a right to quality education.