Byelection candidate takes ‘total responsibility’ for not disclosing past allegations
Posted Aug 16, 2019 06:12:53 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A former provincial PC candidate removed earlier this week from an upcoming Cape Breton byelection, says he takes total responsibility for not disclosing allegations from the past.
Tory leader Tim Houston says Danny Laffin was replaced with a new candidate for failure to comply with the party's disclosure rules under its selection process.
Laffin says he accepts the decision of the Nova Scotia PC Party to be removed as a candidate in the Northside-Westmount riding, but that he thought the allegations at the root of his removal were a closed issue.
On his Facebook page, Laffin says the PC Caucus received an anonymous letter from a local party member the day after he was acclaimed, regarding what Laffin calls false accusations.
He doesn't detail what these accusations are, but says the same claims were raised 20 years ago when he was running for a provincial seat in Cape Breton north under John Hamm's leadership.
Laffin says the party took the accusations very seriously and following a thorough investigation, decided they were not true and fully supported his candidacy.
He writes, “Unfortunately, I have to accept that false accusations can be made without consequence except for those they are directed at. With that said, I will forge ahead.”
Murray Ryan has replaced Laffin as the new PC candidate.
Laffin will be on the ballot as an independent when voters go to the polls Sept. 3.
