B.C. NDP leader David Eby says Conservative interim leader Lorne Doerkson must remove his party’s campaign director over social media comments criticizing Islam.
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British Columbia NDP Leader David Eby is calling on Conservative interim leader Lorne Doerkson to fire his party’s campaign director, Katy Merrifeld, over comments Eby says were directed at Islam.
Eby said Doerkson must remove Merrifeld for comments connected to the release of a report by Rupert Lowe, the leader of the anti-immigration Restore Britain party. Eby made the call while speaking at an unrelated campaign announcement on Vancouver Island on Saturday.
The privately funded report, titled “Rape Gang Inquiry,” was published by Lowe in June. Eby said Merrifeld’s social media post, first published June 17, included an expletive in front of the word Islam and called on her audience to defend “Western civilization.”
Eby’s call comes after Doerkson fired Conservative candidate Joachim Agou for comments about Muslims. Agou has since apologized.
Merrifeld has said on social media that she took down the original post within hours, saying her anger was directed at “the extremism used to justify these horrific crimes, not at Muslims or their faith.” She also said, as a woman and a rape survivor, she was brought to tears reading the report, adding that she was “heartbroken, horrified, and angry.”
When asked why he is calling for the removal of a person who is not on the ballot, Eby said Doerkson has a chance to show where he stands, saying either Doerkson removes her or he only removes a candidate whom Eby said has “a snowball’s chance in hell of winning.”
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