New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath says the party is âlooking intoâ a Scarborough candidate accused by the Progressive Conservatives of using a Hitler meme on her Facebook page five years ago.The Conservatives also called out NDP candidate Tasleem Riaz for âoffensive online commentary accusing the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces of committing war crimesâ in 2011.âMore disturbingly, Ms. Riaz would later follow up her activism by posting and sharing a neo-Nazi meme that shared an âinspirationalâ quote from Adolf Hitler whom she glowingly referred to as âthe ruler.â âHorwath said she finds it hard to believe Riaz, an interfaith activist, would post anything associated with Hitler.âThatâs not something that I would support,â Horwath said outside a high school Friday. âIâm looking into this.ââIâve known Tasleem for some time now,â added Horwath, who was outside Sir Oliver Mowat Collegiate Institute in Scarborough announcing her June 7 election promise of $16 billion to fix a backlog of repairs in schools.âSheâs been an activist in interfaith issues.âRiaz issued a statement saying she is âhorrified that an inappropriate meme was on my Facebook page. I donât recall sharing it in 2013 â and at no point in my life would I have done so intentionally.ââI have devoted my life to interfaith religious tolerance and freedom,â she added. âI find Hitler, the hate he spewed and the genocide he committed to be abhorrent.ââI canât understand how this happened, and Iâm devastated that it has.âHorwath was joined at the school announcement by several of her Scarborough candidates but said Riaz and one other were not there because of scheduling conflicts. âRead more: NDP âgaining momentum,â surges ahead of Tories in latest pollHorwath promises 4,500 more nu ...
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