THE Conservative Party of Canada on Wednesday dropped yet another South Asian candidate following a report by news outlet Baaz exposing its Etobicoke-North candidate Don Patel’s endorsement of a statement on social media that encouraged people to gather information on Khalistanis and send it to the Indian Consulate General “so hopefully they will be banned [from] entering India.”
In an article titled, “CPC Candidate Don Patel’s Online Activity Raises Foreign Interference Concerns,” the news outlet wrote about Patel’s pro-India activities. It said, for example, that in 2019, he co-organized a car rally in the Greater Toronto Area to celebrate the election victory of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
It said: “Patel has also interacted online with posts that endorsed extrajudicial violence against Canadians critical of the Modi government.”
It noted that Patel’s interactions on social media were “activities that Canadian officials and the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference have identified as forms of foreign interference and transnational repression in Canada.”
The CPC told Baaz: “This social media activity is unacceptable. Don Patel is no longer a candidate for the Conservative Party of Canada” and “Endorsing such a statement is clearly unacceptable. The Conservative Party will always stand up for the safety and security of Canadians. The individual is no longer a candidate.”
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