A White Rock, B.C., councillor says the bellies of pregnant women who wear too-tight clothing resemble "sausage casings."

That's just one of the observations made by David Chesney while he was a guest on broadcaster Jim Goddard's online show, The Goddard Report, earlier this month.

They were chatting about a pregnant television meteorologist who received hate mail for her appearance on screen, prompting Chesney, the editor and publisher of the online newspaper the White Rock Sun, to offer his opinion of how some pregnant women dress.

How they can yank on those Lululemon sweatpants and body dance skins and go out in public at eight months pregnant. - David Chesney. White Rock councillor

"They can't get on any more skin tight, it looks like sausage casings. Their belly button is pushing through the material and I kinda look at that and I go, 'I get it, you're pregnant, all right.' Now why, why, why such a desire to push that out in front of everyone and and again, as I say I know ... I can hear some people screaming at me right now."

Chesney said during the interview that he doesn't advocate that pregnant women wear "tents," but, thinking of his mother's generation, he says there is more appropriate maternity wear.

"The fact is that the styling was much different through the '50s, '60s, '70s — even in the '80s women wore a little bit more loose-fitting clothes. But as I say, nowadays, how they can yank on those Lululemon sweatpants and body dance skins, and go out in public at eight months pregnant ... I don't find it repulsive. I just really have to question, why that?"

Chesney also shared his thoughts on maternity leave.

"You get one year maternity leave, so women want to come to work until their water breaks so they can have one year off from the time the baby is born. They are not taking a month off ahead of time. They are coming to work. They are barely able to walk. They can't sit down. They are not comfortable."

'He does not speak for White Rock Council'

CBC News attempted to reach Chesney, but he was not immediately available.

White Rock Mayor Wayne Baldwin called Chesney's comments "unfortunate."

Chesney says he doesn't advocate that pregnant women wear 'tents,' but in thinking of his mother's generation, he says, there is more appropriate maternity wear. (White Rock Sun)

"He does not speak for White Rock council," Baldwin told CBC. "And definitely it's an unfortunate remark that he's made and it's disturbing, but it's nothing we can take responsibility for."

This isn't the first-time that the first-term councillor has been criticized for his comments.

Baldwin says Chesney made some defamatory comments about another a councillor﻿ and as a result, he was censured and taken off council committees.

"There definitely seems to be a pattern, and that's unfortunate."

Social media backlash

Leah Emmons, a Ladner woman who gave birth five months ago, says she just brushed away Chesney's remarks.

"Those nine months are the most exciting time of your life," she said. "Yes, you have to exercise decency in terms of what you wear ... but I think you basically just have to wear what you're comfortable in."

Here are some other comments on Twitter: