John Reilly, shown in a file photo, is running for the Liberals in Alberta's Wild Rose riding.Peter Cheney/The Globe and Mail
Michael Ignatieff says he will not fire his candidate in the Alberta riding of Wild Rose who made controversial comments about sexual-assault victims and later apologized.
The Liberal Leader said Thursday the candidate, former provincial court judge John Reilly, made disgraceful remarks that he will likely regret for the rest of his life but he has apologized.
"This candidate has issued an unreserved apology for these remarks," Mr. Ignatieff said. "These remarks are utterly, totally unacceptable. We find them, in fact, disgraceful."
But Mr. Ignatieff said that Mr. Reilly, as a former judge, has served his community with a "long record of distinguished public service."
"He made one remark that he is going to regret for the rest of his life," said Mr. Ignatieff, adding that because of that and the apology he can continue as a Liberal candidate.
Mr. Ignatieff, campaigning at a seniors' residence in Laval, Que., had wanted to champion his so-called Family Pack. Instead, he defended his decision to keep on Mr. Reilly.
This is the second consecutive day that the Liberal Leader has been knocked off message by the controversial backgrounds of his candidates as the election campaign is beginning to turn nasty.
On Wednesday, the NDP outed Liberal Manicouagan candidate André Forbes, the founder of a white-supremacist group
The NDP reprinted racist comments Mr Forbes had made about aboriginal Canadians. Mr Ignatieff later fired Mr. Forbes.
And then Thursday morning, as the media covering Mr. Ignatieff were on their way to his first event, the Tory war room sent out transcripts of an interview Mr. Reilly gave to a Calgary talk-radio station - pointing out the long-shot candidate's questionable remarks about victims of sexual assault.
"Well, you know, there are sexual assaults and there are sexual assaults," Mr Reilly said in the interview.
He also spoke at length about a so-called aggressive female who was sexually assaulted.
Mr. Reilly had also tweeted in his defence: "I'm a retired judge, running on a platform of Smart Justice. The Harper plan will needlessly incarcerate thousands."
Early Thursday, Mr. Reilly issued an apology: "I unreservedly apologize for the clumsy example I used during my remarks last week on the Rutherford Show.
"I deeply regret any distress they may have caused and any misunderstanding about my own - and my party's - zero tolerance for sexual assault of any kind."
NDP Leader Jack Layton, who was in Surrey, B.C. to explain how his party would try to reduce crime, said one has to question Mr. Reilly's judgment.
"You've always got to be thinking of the victim and the kind of implications such statements can have," Mr. Layton said.
"Just think of young guys who hear a statement like that, that somehow it's possible to go over the boundaries. It's certainly very disturbing."
Canadians will have to consider how the Liberals pick their candidates, he said.
"It's got to cause you to ask the question: What sort of a process does the Liberal Party use, what sort of judgment are they exercising when it comes to the selection of candidates?" Mr. Layton said
"And does that really indicate the kind of judgment that we want to see governing the country?"
With a report from Gloria Galloway