Ontario PC Party Leader Doug Ford has canned Tanya Granic Allen as a candidate for the party after the Liberals released a video of Allen sharing her views on topics including gay marriage and abortion.
“Tanya Granic Allen will no longer be a candidate for the Ontario PC Party. We are a party comprised of people with diverse views that if expressed responsibly we would respect,” read a statement from Ford.
“However, the fact is her characterization of certain issues and people has been irresponsible. Our party remains focused on defeating Kathleen Wynne and bringing relief to families across Ontario.”
Granic Allen tweeted that she was disappointed by the decision, and would “have more to say about this and Ontario politics” in the coming days.
In the video, taken from a longer speech posted to YouTube by Croatian Catholic Youth North America, Allen said she “almost vomits in disbelief” at the thought of Croatia allowing gay marriage and pushing what she termed “radical sexual education” on young people.
Get daily news
WATCH: Global Toronto’s Alan Carter speaks with Tanya Granic Allen one-on-one.
“Did these people spill their blood on the frontlines less than 20 years ago, for what?” she said in reference to soldiers who lost their lives in the war to liberate Croatia. “To hold on to a value system, yes, but what beyond that? It was for the Catholic faith really… so was that blood spilled for nothing?”
The Ontario Liberals had issued a statement earlier Saturday calling for Ford to remove Granic Allen as a candidate in the Mississauga Centre riding.
In their release, the Liberals cited other quotes attributed to Granic Allen, in which she allegedly equated abortion to the holocaust, saying, “I feel like I’ve survived the abortion holocaust of Canada,” and said she didn’t believe women who wear burkas should “dress like ninjas.”
Shelley Carroll, Liberal candidate for Don Valley North, challenged Ford to boot Granic Allen out of the party to prove that he “isn’t deliberately trying to woo the support of ugly extremists.”
READ MORE: Former Ontario PC leadership candidate Tanya Granic Allen under fire for online comments
Allen previously came under fire in April for online comments about Muslims and gay marriage made years ago. She denied that posts and tweets in which she opposed the legalization of gay marriage and the wearing of burkas by women in public reflected Islamophobic or homophobic views.
Ford and Granic Allen were considered the more socially conservative candidates in the Tory leadership race, and Granic Allen was the only one to appear by Ford’s side as he was declared the winner in March.
— With files from The Canadian Press