Caylan Ford has resigned as the United Conservative Party candidate in Calgary-Mountain View following a report by Press Progress that alleges she sent text messages complaining that ‘white supremacist terrorists face a double-standard compared to Islamic terrorists.’
In a statement published on Facebook early on the morning of March 19, 2019, Ford announced her resignation and wrote that the “comments published by PressProgress are distortions and are not reflective of my views.”
Ford was widely considered a star candidate for the UCP in this district, which has been represented by retiring Liberal MLA David Swann since 2004. She is an international affairs specialist with a background in China and human rights and has worked as a senior policy advisor with Global Affairs Canada.
Her candidacy in this district was not without controversy. The nomination contest was contentious, with questions about the eligibility of Ford and former MLA Mark Hlady in the contest. Ford’s candidacy was ultimately accepted by the UCP and she defeated Becca Polak and Jeremy Wong to win the nomination.
UCP leader Jason Kenney‘s Facebook page has recently been running advertisements in support of her candidacy in Calgary-Mountain View, suggesting that this was a priority district for the UCP in the upcoming election.
Still running in Calgary-Mountain View are New Democratic Party MLA and Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley, Liberal Party leader David Khan, Alberta Party candidate Angela Kokott, Green Party candidate Thana Boonlert, and Independent candidate Monica Friesz, who is affiliated with the Alberta Independence Party.
With an election call expected within days, it is likely that Kenney will appoint now appoint a new candidate to run in this district.
One reply on “Caylan Ford resigns as United Conservative Party candidate in Calgary-Mountain View”
As Premier Rachel Notley said, Jason Kenney is most likely not, himself personally, a racist… but he leads a party that is welcoming of racist views. Ian Fleming wrote: “once is happenstance, twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action”. In the case of the UCP, you could, maybe, brush off one or two of these cases as unrepresentative of the party as a whole, but this constant drumbeat of revelations can lead one to only one reasonable conclusion: theirs is a racist party.