In the midst of this marathon campaign, it has to be tough for a candidate to stand out from the crowd. But that doesn’t mean candidates across the country aren’t putting in a bit of extra effort to set themselves apart. Some are taking to Facebook in misguided bids to earn attention for drawing comparisons between famous fence posts and penises. Others, like Conservative candidate Joe Daniel, are taking the higher road by suggesting that there is a Muslim conspiracy to resettle refugees in western countries.
Specifically, after news broke that Saudi Arabia had offered to build mosques in Germany in an effort to help resettle refugees in that country, the CBC reports that Daniel said, “…Saudi Arabia is putting up money for 200 mosques in Germany. I think the agenda is to try and move as many Muslims into some of these European countries to change these countries in a major way.” He then added, “that’s something that I certainly don’t want to see happening in Canada. I think Canada is the greatest country in the world.”
Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty…when Daniel said “that’s something I don’t want to see” was he talking about resettling Muslims or building the mosques? Whatever, that’s like choosing between the National Post and the Globe and Mail…your puppy probably doesn’t care which one you use to clean up when he pees on the floor.
But whoa, hold on! Didar Khokhar, Daniel’s campaign manager, says that the candidate’s comments were taken out of context. In Daniel’s defence, Khokhar says that he was speaking “about a controversy in Europe” and that he “made the comments in passing” while speaking with people at a barbecue. Ah, the barbecue, where salmonella grows on potato salad and islamophobic conspiracy theories flow “in passing” from politicians’ mouths.
Racism in politics…a part of our heritage?
imgur
The Party deployed damage control in the form of cabinet minister Jason Kenney, who also insisted that Daniel’s comments were indeed blown out of proportion. He accused media outlets of “creating sensationalistic headlines.” In response, we quickly changed the title of this article from “Mega-Jerk Joe Daniel: The Next Donald Trump?” to something a little more moderate.
“Some, I assume, are good people. Wait, is this a barbecue? Ah shit…”
The Epoch Times
The good news for Kenney, and for you, is that we can vote in less than a month. After that, we won’t have to hear about candidates running their mouths and mashing their keyboards…we’ll be able to hear about MPs doing the same stuff. In the mean time, the good news for us is that sometimes candidates are overtly prejudiced in print and out loud. No one had to dig through Facebook for this one. Thanks, Joe!