Kingston and the Islands Green candidate Dr. Waji Khan publicly announced his support for the riding’s NDP candidate, Vic Sahai, on Twitter Thursday morning, before switching gears late Thursday afternoon.
“I spoke to Dr. Khan last night and my manager and I spoke to Dr. Khan at 10:00 at McDonald’s today, and he did confirm that he is endorsing me,” says Vic Sahai.
In a since-deleted tweet, Dr. Khan said that, due to “very low levels of national support” for the Green Party and “very little time to Brand a campaign,” he is supporting Vic Sahai of the NDP.
Sahai was quick to accept the support, saying, “In my mind, Dr. Khan saw an opportunity to put his support behind a candidate and a party who are truly invested in climate change, the climate emergency. And that is why Dr. Khan is running.
“I know Waji, I’ve talked to him about the environment. And he’s as passionate as I am about the environment. And all he wants to do is to see a candidate in parliament who will do something about that.”
Dr. Khan’s tweet endorsing the NDP candidate was soon after deleted, with two new tweets replacing the statement. This time on his campaign Twitter page instead of his personal page.
The two new tweets backtracked on the endorsement, sating he only did so “out of frustration and fear.”
The tweets go on to say that “strategic voting is not the solution” and encourages Kingstonians to vote Green on Sept. 20.
Kingston and the Islands Liberal candidate, Mark Gerretsen, was surprised by the initial tweet supporting Sahai, saying that Green Party leaders support the Liberals’ climate plan.
“I do find it very interesting that this decision would be made, given the fact that the Green leaders throughout Canada have been gravitating towards the Liberal party over the last couple of days,” says Gerretsen.
Khan’s messages come just days before election day. Voters who haven’t already done so will head to the polls on Monday.
Dr. Khan was unavailable for an interview due to a patient emergency.
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