KINGSTON, ONT.—An NDP candidate who railed against wearing poppies on Remembrance Day as a “ritual of war glorification,” yet said she’d sign up for “a war on Christmas,” is being defended by party Leader Andrea Horwath.

“Many people have many diverse opinions and we value free speech,” Horwath said Sunday as she faced questions for the second time this weekend about controversial remarks from her candidates in the run-up to the June 7 election.

“Those are certainly not values I share, but freedom of speech is a principle that we all, I think, value,” she said.

The comments on social media in previous years from Mississauga Centre hopeful Laura Kaminker have been gaining attention online in recent days.

“There are certainly times when people say things that they regret,” added Horwath, who said she doesn’t know if that’s the case here.

Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives charged that Kaminker’s remarks point to “radical” elements in Horwath’s ranks and noted the candidate has thanked Twitter followers for their support.

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“Not only are these comments offensive to veterans and military families across the province who gave so much to fight for the freedom and rights we all hold dear, but they are also completely out of step with the public,” the PCs said in a statement.

Horwath was highly critical of Conservative candidate and former leadership contender Tanya Granic Allen in the same riding for her remarks about women in burqas looking like “bank robbers” and “ninjas” and called on PC Leader Doug Ford to fire her. He eventually did.

But Horwath, at a town hall meeting with about 100 people on Kingston’s waterfront, said the main concern is whether her candidates support the New Democrat platform.

“I’m sure that this particular person agrees with us on all the pieces of our platform that make life better for people,” she said.

One of her supporters at the meeting bristled at repeated questions from a reporter on the issue, interjecting, “Who do you work for, Ford?”

On Friday in Kenora, on the first day of a three-day campaign swing through northwestern Ontario to Grassy Narrows, Sault Ste. Marie and Ottawa, Horwath had to deal with controversial comments from local candidate Glen Archer, a corrections officer.

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He had posted on Facebook that Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne, premier since 2013, “should be in prison” for “blowing taxpayers’ money” and listed his favourite movie quote as “If I want your opinion, I’ll beat it out of you.”

Appearing with Horwath at the home of a senior couple talking about snags they have faced with the health-care system, Archer said he “apologized unequivocally” for the remarks and passed off the opinion quote as “tongue-in-cheek” and “corrections humour” meant for colleagues.

“That’s not the way we solve problems,” Horwath said, noting she accepted Archer’s apology.

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