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.
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“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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