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The Tories are distancing themselves from a board member over social media comments he made after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot an American woman in Minneapolis.
Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan denounced an online post from Patrick Allard over the weekend, calling the statements “offensive and inappropriate.”
“To make light of Renee Good, the mother of three, to try and justify in any way the killing of Renee Good, is unacceptable,” Khan said at a news conference on Monday.
“There is no room for hate in this party, there is no room for these type of comments. Enough is enough.”
In a post of his own, Khan on Monday said on social media that the statements made by Allard don’t reflect the values of the PC party, and said Allard will not be a PC candidate in the upcoming election.
Khan said after an emergency meeting, the party decided unanimously to suspend Allard’s party membership and his position on the board.
The move comes after Allard made comments on social media on the weekend.
“Do we have ICE in Manitoba? If so are they hiring? Asking for a friend,” reads one post from Allard.
Allard made his comments amid days-long protests that erupted in Minneapolis following the death of Renee Nicole Good.
Video circulated Wednesday of an ICE agent firing three shots at Renee Nicole Good, 37, while she was behind the wheel of her SUV.
WATCH | ICE agent’s phone video shows new perspective of moments before shooting:
New video of Minneapolis shooting taken by ICE agent
A U.S. online media outlet called Alpha News has released a video from the perspective of a federal immigration agent who fatally shot a 37-year-old woman in Minneapolis this week. This video includes graphic language and the sound of shots being fired.
Footage taken by that immigration officer emerged Friday.
During an unrelated news conference on Monday, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said he reached out to Minn. Gov. Tim Walz to show solidarity.
“This is not something to be flippant about,” Kinew said. “I think the Manitoba PCs will have some explaining to do on that front.”
Khan said the PCs “do not stand for hate, do not stand for division.”
“There is no room for it,” he said.
Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan addresses media on Monday after announcing Patrick Allard has been suspended from his role on the party board. (Jeff Stapleton/CBC)
Allard was among several people fined thousands of dollars for opposing pandemic public health measures meant to stem the spread of COVID-19. He was fined over a dozen times, for a total of about $35,000.
In recent years Allard has run and lost in races at the school board trustee level and provincial politics. He ran as an independent in the last election in the St. Johns riding.
Last fall, a judge tossed a defamation lawsuit Allard filed against the NDP.
‘Knee-jerk reaction’: Allard
Allard said Khan has “made a very knee-jerk reaction to a somewhat comical post.”
“What offends me may not offend you and what offends you may not offend me,” Allard told CBC News on Monday.
In exchanges that ensued online after his original post, Allard responded to one person in the thread by saying Good “tried running them [ICE] over, and was rightfully terminated.”
He said he used that phrasing because comments using words like “shot” or “killed” are likely to get flagged by Facebook.
“So the word ‘terminated,’ although it sounds probably more horrible, I would have said, if Facebook didn’t have their censoring posts, like you know, on trigger words … I would have used the word ‘shot.’ She was shot by the ICE agent in self-defence,” Allard said.
WATCH | PCs suspend board member over ICE comments:
Manitoba PCs suspend board member over ICE comments
The Manitoba Progressive Conservatives have suspended Patrick Allard, a party board member, over social media comments he made after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot an American woman in Minneapolis.
Allard said he doesn’t believe the Progressive Conservatives would have let him get the PC nomination next election and run against Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine in her riding of St. Johns.
He said the party is just progressive, not conservative, and is turning its back on its conservative base.
“They’ve shot themselves in the foot,” Allard said. “They’ve told their conservative base, ‘we don’t want you’ by making this move.”
Allard said he still plans to run in St. Johns in the next election — possibly as an independent once again or for another party.