Andrea Horwath continually contradicted by radical candidates on the campaign trail

This afternoon, questioned by reporters about some of the past statements her candidates have made, Andrea Horwath said:

“Everybody who is running as a New Democrat, is going to be required to back up the platform we have.”

“We expect our candidates during the campaign to stand behind those offers… and we expect our MPPs after June 7th should we be given the honour of governing this province, we would expect our MPPs to continue supporting those policy pieces as well.”

This will be news to Joel Harden, the NDP candidate in Ottawa Centre. In an interview with Socialist.ca, Harden has said he will always put his radical personal views ahead of the party.

“I was very honest with them and they were clear with me when they vetted my nomination papers. I said, “if I’m asked a question about what I think about BDS for example, I’m not going to pretend that that’s somebody I’m not. I’m going to say, on a personal level I support BDS…That’s my own personal belief, and I’ll say it to anyone who asks. But is the provincial party there? No, they’re not there. But should people who read Socialist Worker see me as somebody they can know as an ally, who won’t change? Yeah. I’m going to be the same person. I say the same thing about the Leap Manifesto. Does the Ontario NDP endorse the Leap Manifesto? No, they don’t. Do I? Yes, I’m an organizer here for it. Will I try to pretend like the party believes in it? No.” – Socialist.ca, September 2, 2017