NDP candidates drop out of race

Toronto hopeful spread baseless theory about Israel and vaccines

A Toronto NDP candidate who admitted to spreading a baseless theory about Israel and COVID-19 vaccines agreed to end her campaign Wednesday, less than a day after NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh stood by her in public remarks.

Sidney Coles, an equity consultant and former humanitarian aid worker, apologized Sunday for posting what she called “unsubstantiated theories about vaccine supply linked to Israel” on Twitter. But by Tuesday, with the story continuing to spread, it had become clear inside the party that an apology wouldn’t be enough.

“Our understanding is that there was internal pressure from party members, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, that Ms. Coles’ statement and the leader’s response to it were insufficient,” said Martin Sampson, the vice-president of communications at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA).

Coles, who was running in Toronto-St. Paul’s, was one of two NDP candidates to step aside on Wednesday. Dan Osborne, an 18-year-old running for the party in the Nova Scotia riding of Cumberland-Colchester, had apologized Sunday for making a joke about the Holocaust on a “mostly satire” Twitter account when he was 16.

“These two candidates have resigned and ended their campaigns. They have agreed to educate themselves further about antisemitism,” said NDP spokesperson George Soule in a statement Wednesday morning.

“New Democrats stand united against discrimination of all kinds. We are committed to taking lasting and meaningful steps toward ending prejudice and hatred in all its forms.”

The resignations, at this point, will have no effect on the actual ballots. The deadline to have names removed before the federal election has long since passed and millions of Canadians have already voted in advance polls.

Still, the CIJA applauded the move Wednesday. “Elected officials — and those vying for public office — must lead by example in our collective fight against hatred toward Jews,” CIJA president and CEO Shimon Koffler Fogel wrote in a statement. “It was right for Dan Osborne and Sidney Coles to resign and it is appropriate that they enrol in antisemitism training so they can learn about the serious damage antisemitism does to the fabric of our society. All Canadians of goodwill must work together to eradicate Jew hatred from Canada.”

The NDP leaned heavily on the CIJA’s acceptance and acknowledgment of Coles’ apology in the party’s initial response to the story. A party spokesperson highlighted it in an email to the Toronto Star, and Singh brought it up unprompted when asked about the controversy Tuesday.

But on Wednesday, at a campaign stop in Essex, Ont., Singh was asked why, if an apology was good enough for him Tuesday, a resignation was necessary now.

“Well, it’s certainly right to apologize,” he said. “It’s always right to apologize. People, if they make mistakes, should apologize. That’s always the right thing to do. And in this case, they made a decision to go further than that and I support that decision. I think it was right, given the circumstances.”

But for some voters, the resignations came too late. Susan Glickman, an author and former University of Toronto professor, had already voted for Coles before she read about her tweets Tuesday.

“I still vote NDP because I believe in the party’s domestic platform, though for many years the NDP has NOT been a safe space for Jews,” she wrote in an email to the party that same day.