Every day it seems there are new revelations of racist, homophobic, or bigoted comments made by Conservative candidates in the 2019 Canadian Federal election. Keeping up can be difficult. We are maintaining an up to date list of all the terrible Conservative candidates, what they have done, and whether they are still on the ballot.

Justina McCaffrey

Riding: Kanata—Carleton

Status: Still the candidate

Justina McCaffrey has been described as the “best friend” of infamous white nationalist Faith Goldy. She is also the current Conservative candidate in Kanata—Carleton.

In a video with Goldy, McCaffrey described her white nationalist pal as “wonderful”. After the video came to light, McCaffrey claimed she hadn’t seen Goldy in “several years”, though a photo was quickly discovered of the two of them together as recently as 2017.

Scheer campaigned with McCaffrey early in the campaign, though the candidate fled from reporters when questioned about her ties to Goldy, who has appeared in an interview on the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer website, promoted the “white genocide” conspiracy theory, and said the white supremacist Charlottesville Manifesto was “well thought out”.

Sources: CBC, Anti-Hate Network

Shinder Purewal

Riding: Fleetwood–Port Kells

Status: Still the candidate

Andrew Scheer’s Conservative candidate in this Vancouver riding has a bone to pick with Pride Parades.

“Vancouver’s so-called ‘Pride Parade’ should be banned. It is vulgar … to say the least,” Purewal opined in a now-deleted Tweet. When asked to clarify these comments, Purewal explained that Pride parades are a “vulgar display of sexuality” and ought to be banned.

Purewal was disavowed by the university he teaches at over the comments, which were reported on by multiple mainstream media sources at the time in 2011.

In spite of this, Andrew Scheer clearly felt comfortable with people like Purewal, and their homophobic views, carrying the banner for his party into the election.

Sources: PressProgress

Cameron Ogilvie

Riding: Winnipeg North

Status: Resigned

The Conservative’s candidate in Winnipeg North was forced to resign after racist posts he made on a secondary Facebook account were unearthed by PressProgress.

Ogilvie’s account was filled with posts containing anti-Muslim and white nationalist themes. In one post he calls for banning all Middle Eastern flags from Canada. In another he shares a graphic stating “One Nation under God, not Allah. Canada is not a Muslim nation. Canada is not an Islamic nation. Canada is a Christian nation.”

Ogilvie also shared posts proclaiming his pride in being white, and calling for a ban on Muslims immigrating to Canada.

Ogilvie has since resigned his candidacy.

Sources: CBC

Andrew Scheer

Riding: Regina—Qu’Appelle

Status: Still the Leader

No list of awful Conservative candidates would be complete without the leader of the party itself, Andrew Scheer.

Scheer was a vocal opponent of gay marriage, and delivered a speech comparing LGBTQ marriage rights to parts of a dog:

“How many legs would a dog have if you counted the tail as a leg? The answer is just four. Just because you call a tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg. If this bill passes, governments and individual Canadians will be forced to call a tail a leg, nothing more.”

Scheer has never apologized for the comments, and continues to say he personally opposed both gay marriage and women’s reproductive rights.

He has also said he would allow candidates to introduce legislation restricting these rights, and permit Conservative MPs to vote for them, leaving the door open for a rollback of hard-won rights.

Sources: PressProgress

Rachel Wilson

Riding: York Centre

Status: Still the candidate

Rachel Wilson is the Conservative candidate in York Centre. She shares Andrew Scheer’s desire to bring abortion bans to Canada, but is less practiced at hiding her beliefs from voters.

Wilson has been outspoken about her desire to “end abortion” via legislation, and says she has “been passionate about advancing the pro-life cause for years.”

Scheer has confirmed that he would allow his MPs to bring forward legislation to ban abortion, and allow free votes on the issue. Wilson told media she was “grateful” for this policy.

Sources: CTV