Doug Ford is distancing himself from former Progressive Conservative leadership rival and would-be MPP Tanya Granic Allen, under fire for her social media posts comparing women in burkas to “bank robbers” and questioning gay marriage.

“These comments do not reflect the position of Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford or the party,” the leader’s office said Monday in a statement to the Star.

On Twitter and in her blog in recent years, Granic Allen has linked Muslims to ISIS through her use of hashtags and made other comments as an outspoken social conservative active in the fight against the Wynne government’s sex education curriculum and a law banning “conversion therapy” for gay teens.

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“We’re always concerned when there are people in the public eye making any sort of Islamophobic innuendo,” Rabia Kheder, executive director of the Muslim Council of Peel, said Monday, dubbing the comments “insulting and disturbing.”

“It gives fuel to people who are motivated by hate.”

Granic Allen’s remarks are coming under increased scrutiny as the 39-year-old mother of four seeks the Conservative nomination in Mississauga Centre. Local party members vote April 21.

In one blog post now drawing attention on social media, Granic Allen took aim at Muslim dress after Quebec proposed a controversial charter of values in 2013.

“What I do take issue with is the niqab and burka because they are masks which cover the face. I don’t believe people should dress like ninjas,” she wrote.

“I don’t believe that people should dress like bank robbers when going to vote,” she added, also comparing burkas to her daughter wearing a “Spider-Man mask.”

In a tweet she referred to a 2013 acid attack on two teens in Zanzibar, writing “yet another reason not to vacation in a Muslim country” and a year later tweeted “so shocked that Malta has passed a law allowing gay adoption and marriage.”

First contacted about these and other social media posts last Friday, Granic Allen said: “I’ve worked with people from all faiths, all walks of life...we live in a pluralistic society.”

“I advocate for women’s rights,” she added when asked about the burka comments, saying she considers the headwear a “tool of oppression.”

Granic Allen declined the opportunity Monday to comment further after asking for time over the weekend to read through the tweets and blog.

Muslim and gay community leaders said Granic Allen’s views are germane because of her elevated public profile and the possibility she could become an MPP and named to Ford’s cabinet if she and the party win on June 7. Ford made a play for second-ballot support from Granic Allen’s backers in the leadership race, promising to reconsider the sex ed curriculum and musing about requiring teens to get parental permission for abortions.

“We are concerned about a number of message that she promotes,” said Eric Lorenzen, vice-president of communications for the group LGBTory.

“If she advocates any restrictions on the teachings of LGBT acceptance, same-sex marriage or sensitive age-appropriate LGBT sex education in the secular public school system, we vigorously oppose that.”

Khedr said Muslims in Canada “do not represent what ISIS represents” and defended women of Islam who wear burkas as “very firm in their faith. I admire their strength and courage.”

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Moe Ladha, director of the group Canadian Muslim Vote, noted there are more than 800,000 Muslims in Ontario, with 575,000 of eligible voting age, and invited politicians of all stripes to break down barriers.

“Whatever we think we’re reading on social media from that lens indicates that we want and need more engagement so that we can know each other.”

An earlier version of this story stated that there were more than 400,000 Muslims in Ontario. The actual number is more than 800,000.

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