Nova Scotia NDP Leader Gary Burrill wouldn’t rule out the possibility of welcoming back a former candidate who resigned from the party if he were to win his seat in the upcoming Nova Scotia election.
Bill McEwen, the NDP’s Dartmouth East candidate, resigned earlier this month after controversial online comments came to light.
“That’s further down the road than we’re prepared to go,” Burill said when asked about any possibility of McEwen being brought back into the fold. “Not in or out or up or down. It’s just not on the table for us today.”
READ MORE: All our Nova Scotia Election 2017 coverage
While McEwen has resigned from the NDP and withdrawn from the race, it is still possible for him to win the seat.
A day after McEwen announced his resignation, Elections Nova Scotia sent out a news release stating that The Elections Act doesn’t allow for a candidate’s withdrawal after nominations have closed. Since McEwen withdrew after the deadline, his name will still appear on the ballot on election night — along with his affiliation with the NDP.
McEwen’s comments came from a cached version of a website called The BullPen, which he launched in 2011. According to information on the cached website, The BullPen is a magazine for “men. Not Women. Not Children.”
“I apologize for my past actions and believe that I must be accountable to my community and the residents of Dartmouth East for inappropriate statements I made and supported in the past,” McEwen said in an emailed statement sent by the party after his resignation.
The former NDP candidate wasn’t the only politician who was ousted from their political party as a result of posts made on social media. Candidates from both the PCs and the Liberals have been booted from their party.
READ MORE: Nova Scotia Election: Dartmouth East candidates
Pictou East candidate, Matt MacKnight, was booted from the Liberal slate in the wake of questions from Global News about controversial comments he made on Facebook and Twitter.
Jad Crnogorac, a candidate in Dartmouth South, has continued to campaign as an independent after past tweets caused the Progressive Conservative Party dropped her from their campaign.
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