Liberal candidate Nathalie Provost says she wants to see Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre call out “shameful” comments by a now-dropped Conservative candidate, Simon Payette, who accused her of playing the “victim game” in her quest for stronger gun regulations.
A Conservative spokesperson confirmed to the Canadian Press that the party has now dropped Payette as a candidate — the latest in a slew of candidates shed by the Liberals and Conservatives this week over contentious comments, ahead of Monday’s nomination deadline in the federal election.
Provost, who survived being shot in the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre and who was awarded the Governor General’s Medal of Bravery for attempting to dissuade the shooter, says she was left speechless by some of the comments that tarnish the memory of her classmates subject to the worst mass-murder of women in Canadian history.
Payette left a series of comments on Provost’s Facebook page in French, often taunting her to participate in a live debate with him, the Canadian Press reported.
In one post, he writes that he will look her “straight in the eye” as he tears up Bill C-21, the gun control law passed under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, in Parliament under a Conservative majority.
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He said he would then use the bill as toilet paper every time he uses the bathroom in Parliament.
Other candidates dropped this week
Multiple other candidates have been dropped by the Liberals and Conservatives this week.
On Friday, Liberal Leader Mark Carney told reporters in Montreal Friday that Rod Loyola, who was running in the newly formed riding of Edmonton Gateway, is “no longer a candidate.”
Carney did not elaborate on why Loyola, who was a long-time Alberta NDP MLA in the provincial legislature before he joined the Liberal camp, was ousted.
Carney’s confirmation comes after the National Post reported on Thursday that Loyola was one of the individuals in a 2009 video who can be heard praising Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Palestinian militant group Hamas. Both have been designated as terrorist organizations by Canada.
Loyola said in a statement late Friday that he will now run as an independent candidate.
On Monday, another Liberal candidate, Paul Chiang, announced he was stepping down as the nominee in the Markham-Unionville riding following comments he made in January that Conservative Joe Tay should be turned over to Chinese officials in return for a bounty.
Meanwhile, the Conservative Party ousted four other candidates from the race this week.
Three Tory candidates in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia were removed on Tuesday, while a fourth was booted late Wednesday.
Poilievre was asked about the removals on Thursday, and said that their “vetting process is stronger than all the other parties.”
“That’s why we have a zero tolerance for anyone who acts unacceptably,” he said at a campaign stop in Kingston, Ont.
Earlier this week, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was asked about the controversies surrounding the Liberal and Conservative candidates.
He said so far, his party has not had any similar circumstances.
—With files from Global News.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
