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“Perhaps worst of all, candidates with a documented history of anti-Semitism … the NDP clearly continues to have a problem with allowing the anti-Semites to fester in the dark corners of their party – the lunatic 9/11 truther conspiracy and the militantly anti-Israel BDS movement,” Smith said Friday.

Smith and PC MPP Gila Martow called on Horwath to dump Riaz.

“You don’t post Nazi messages on social media by mistake,” Martow said. “It goes without saying that having Ms. Riaz on the ballot is offensive to every Jewish person in Ontario … Frankly, it’s offensive to all Ontarians with any sense of human decency.”

In a statement Friday, Riaz said she has devoted her life to interfaith religious tolerance and freedom, and has worked closely with Jewish, Hind, Christian, Sikh and Muslim communities.

“I am horrified that an inappropriate meme was on my Facebook page,” Riaz said. “I don’t recall sharing it in 2013 – and at no point in my life would I have done so intentionally … I can’t understand how this happened, and I’m devastated that it has.”

Her statement did not address her comments about the Canadian military.

During a campaign stop, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said she will have her staff look into the allegations against Riaz.

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“It’s upsetting to see that kind of accusation being made,” Horwath said Friday. “But let me be pretty clear about our candidate: I’ve known Tasleem for some time now; this woman is an activist in the interfaith community.”

“And so I find it pretty unbelievable that she would be in any way implicated in anything at all that’s anti-Semitic,” she said.

The PC accusations come a day after Doug Ford faced accusations of selling bogus party memberships.

Ford attributes the accusations brought forward by the Liberals to a desperate attempt by the governing party to hang on to office in the June 7 election.