By Canadian Press

Ousted candidate Guillet claims Liberals have double standard over past conduct

Sep 26, 2019 | 10:49 AM

MONTREAL — A Liberal candidate in Montreal ousted over alleged anti-Semitic comments said Tuesday there is a double standard in the party when it comes to judging what is acceptable past conduct.

Hassan Guillet, who will run as an Independent but still refers to the Liberals in the first person, said he still doesn’t understand his sudden removal over social media posts described by B’nai Brith as anti-Israel and anti-Semitic.

Guillet did not directly refer to Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s blackface scandal following the publication last week of images showing him in brownface and blackface on three occasions. But Guillet said “several candidates in our party as well as others” have been confronted by old photographs or comments.

“I was the only one who had to pay the price for old publications,” he told a news conference in the east-end riding of Saint-Leonard-Saint-Michel, joined by a small group of supporters.

“I feel that there is a double standard. It’s obvious.”

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He noted that discussions with the party about his candidacy began in November 2017 and that his controversial comments “were known by the party a very, very long time ago.”

Guillet, a former imam who rose to prominence for a speech honouring the victims of Quebec’s 2017 mosque shooting, was turfed by the Liberals on Aug. 30 after winning the nomination in May.

His exit came after B’nai Brith publicized his old social media posts, including one in which he claimed that “Zionists control American politics.”

In another comment, dated July 8, 2017, Guillet welcomed the release from prison of Raed Salah, whom the Jewish group described as a militant close to Hamas, which Canada lists as a terror group.

B’nai Brith also brought attention to a 2017 interview with Radio-Canada International, in which Guillet accused Jared Kushner, the Jewish son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, of directing his administration to support an “Israel first” agenda.

Guillet says the Liberal Party was aware of the statements when they accepted his candidacy and was working with him to come up with a response. He denies he is anti-Semitic and has apologized to those offended.

Guillet said that following the party’s decision to dump him, he was encouraged to run by those who helped him win the nomination, and he does not want to betray those supporters.

“The Liberal Party of Canada can take away my right to be the official candidate, but it cannot take away from its members in the riding the right to vote for the person they’ve chosen to represent them,” he said.

The Liberals have since named Patricia Lattanzio, a city councillor, as candidate in the riding considered a party stronghold.

The seat was formerly held by Liberal Nicola Di Iorio, who won the riding in 2015 with over 64 per cent of votes cast but stepped down last January.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 24, 2019.

Pierre Saint-Arnaud, The Canadian Press