Politics in Canada & U.S. War Resisters

[darrels joy]

Kelly McParland: Another NDP candidate in the soup after denouncing 'crybaby' U.S. deserters
Posted: September 25, 2008, 6:08 PM by Kelly McParland Full Comment, Kelly McParland, canadian election

This is getting to be nuts.

The Liberal war room on Thursday issued a release demanding Jack Layton dump Andrew McKeever, his candidate in Durham riding, for “inappropriate comments he made on the internet this summer on the subject of United States war deserters.”

Attached to the Liberal release is a link to McKeever’s Facebook site, where the remarks were posted. They go way beyond “inappropriate” and run on for several pages in which McKeever engages in an obscenity- and insult-laden argument with other bloggers about how much he despises U.S. war resisters.

“These American traitors have no place in my Country,” he writes. “There are bona fide (and by that I mean REAL) refugees out there. Not American crybabies who are trying to turn this country into a hotel. Maybe that is why [another blogger] is so interested in this topic ... having had no real chance to get laid by any domestic male she needs to encourage others, new meat as it were.”

This goes on for a while, with McKeever calling another blogger a “dicksmack” and telling him: “if I ever see you anywhere in Toronto I will kick the shit out of you.”

Then he says he has created his own organization, called Deport U.S. War Resisters, dedicated to doing just that.

The NDP, it barely has to be mentioned, doesn’t share McKeever’s views. Last June NDP MP Olivia Chow, who is married to party leader Jack Layton, sponsored a non-binding motion demanding the Conservative government let U.S. deserters stay in Canada rather than face charges in the U.S.

McKeever says on another site he is a 34-year-old resident of Bowmanville, former camp counselor and member of the Armed Forces Reserves.

“I have also spent several years working in a variety of deadend, low paying, and temporary jobs. I am now, and always have been, a hard worker. I am also now, and always have been, interested in politics.

The Toronto Star, which picked up on the story, says McKeever issued an apology, though it doesn’t appear on the NDP site.

“I took part in several online discussions over the last few months and was often a less than respectful contributor, exchanging insults with other members. I am deeply sorry for having offended anyone,” the apology reads.

“My uppermost concern has always been the support of the men and women of the Canadian Forces and their families. I also acknowledge the legitimate moral reservations of those who cannot, in good faith, fight any longer.”

Last week the NDP lost two candidates over drug use. Kirk Tousaw, the candidate in Vancouver Quadra, quit after a video showed him smoking marijuana in a competition judging various strains of the drug; earlier, Dana Larsen stepped down as candidate in West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country after a video showed him driving around after using marijuana and other drugs.
National Post