Tory candidate to remain on ballot after transphobic comment resurfaces

The New Brunswick Progressive Conservatives have decided to allow a candidate to continue to carry the party’s banner in the upcoming election, despite a transphobic quote resurfacing on social media.

Louis Bérubé, the PC candidate for Restigouche West, came under fire for a 2016 interview with Acadie Nouvelle.

“Could this be? Legislation to protect the transgendered (explicit). Really? I can’t get over it. Where we are heading? They’re disturbed (…) we have to pretend that it’s normal,” he told the paper.

Wednesday morning, the PC campaign said Bérubé has since apologized for those comments and will remain on the ballot.

“Mr. Bérubé has assured our team that he is remorseful for what he said and that his views have since evolved,” the statement said.

The Tories also defended their vetting process by saying Bérubé passed the federal Green Party’s screening when he represented the party in the 2019 federal election.

In the statement, New Brunswick PC Leader Blaine Higgs said the events of the last few days are “clearly indicative of bigger societal issues that can only be addressed by education.”

1:52 Vetting processes of N.B. major political parties under intense scrutiny

Bérubé is not the first candidate to have problematic comments resurface this election.

On Monday afternoon, the Tories parted ways with Victoria-La Vallée candidate Roland Michaud, who reposted a transphobic meme on Facebook in December 2018.

On Monday evening, the Liberals turfed Saint Croix candidate John Gardner over a series of offensive posts about the LGBTQ2 community.

The comments included one in which he suggested that LGBTQ2I+ communities should stop using the rainbow as a symbol because it is “offending the Christian and Jewish community… as it has a strong biblical significance.”

Gardner and Michaud are now running as independent candidates, while Bérubé remains with the PC party.