At the end of his scrum Wednesday to support a bill that would extend parole review time for violent criminals, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews was asked if a politician who had previous ties to the Chinese Communist Party would present a “security risk to Canada.”
We assume the journalist, Sun Media reporter Daniel Proussalidis, was talking about this story: an NDP candidate in the British Columbia election who allegedly admitted he was a member of the Chinese Communist Party.
“I’m not going to talk about any national security issues,” Toews replied.
“But certainly you’re not surprised there are members of the Communist party or ex-members of the Communist party inside the New Democratic Party.”
Toews went on to say there are NDP MPs in the House of Commons – he didn’t name names – who have previously run for the Communist party.
And is that a bad thing?
“No, I’m just saying, why would you be surprised? They’re New Democrats.”
And then he walked away.
Also worth nothing: in April, the NDP voted to remove references to socialism from the party’s constitution.
Follow Laura on Twitter @l_stone
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