EDMONTON—Four days after photos surfaced online of three United Conservative Party candidates posing next to Soldiers of Odin members, one finally broke his silence and defended what occurred the night of the incident.

Lance Coulter, one of the three candidates for the UCP nomination in Edmonton-West Henday, said at a party event on Wednesday that he found the Soldiers of Odin “polite” so “I had a conversation with them.”

The Soldiers of Odin are an anti-immigration group which began in Finland and has a founder who is said to have ties with neo-Nazis. They are considered a far-right extremist group by the Canadian Anti-Hate Network. The group denies being racist.

Coulter and his two fellow Edmonton-West Henday candidates, Leila Houle and Nicole Williams, were photographed at a constituency pub night alongside members of the organization who were clad in black with patches and lettering that said S.O.O.

UCP Leader Jason Kenney has claimed the Soldiers of Odin crashed the event along with the Alberta Independence Party. Williams and Houle, who are both Indigenous, were said by Kenney to have been the targets of the hate organization.

But it appears Coulter knew who the group was when he was photographed with them.

Read more: UCP candidate disqualified for defending Soldiers of Odin meeting

“I did a little research before I talked to them and had a general idea of who they were and understood that there could be a certain level of conflict there,” said Coulter of the incident. “Nevertheless, from my understanding, their actions here in Canada are more motivated around community organization and my quick look on the Facebook page was guys helping a homeless vet, feeding food at a soup kitchen and painting a church.”

When the pictures surfaced online, Houle and Williams put out a joint statement claiming they didn’t know who the group was or what they represented. Had they known, they wouldn’t have taken photos with them, they said.

Coulter had been quiet about it since the incident. He broke his silence at the UCP open forum event in West Edmonton where he answered questions from reporters about the recent controversy involving the Soldiers of Odin.

Press Progress posted an article on Wednesday saying that Coulter has ties to white-nationalist individuals and anti-immigration groups on social media. The article included screenshots of Coulter’s account being part of an anti-immigration group called the “Cultural Action Party” and links to far-right youtubers that he follows.

When asked about these ties and allegations, Coulter said “I wish I knew I was a white-nationalist, otherwise I would have worn the 1930s Hugo Boss, but it’s utterly ridiculous.”

“I mean, calling somebody a racist, a white-nationalist without any kind of substantial evidence in any way shape or form, it’s defamation of character.”

He added that one of his best friends in the city is an Iraqi man who “came to Canada through the United States because he supported the American forces in Operation Iraqi Freedom.”

The Wednesday event took place at the Hyatt Place in west Edmonton where the three candidates sat on a panel at the front of a room and answered questions from a crowd of about 50 people.

Houle and Williams, in their opening remarks, addressed what they called “the elephant in the room.”

“Obviously, neither myself, or my opponents, knew what this group was about,” said Williams to the crowd.

“None of us subscribe to their hateful views.”

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Houle also addressed the incident in her opening remarks saying, “we need to address that because it’s in the media.”

“This was very profound,” she said. “As a mother, when this hit the news and Friday night happened, I had to talk to the daycare, I had to talk to the school, I had to talk to my son about me taking pictures with white supremacists.”

Coulter didn’t address the Oct. 5 incident in his opening remarks but described himself as someone who has served in the Canadian military and who has worked in the oil and gas industry.

The candidates spent the night answering questions regarding Alberta’s education curriculum, choice for parents in education, the NDP and getting rid of the provincial carbon tax.

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