A candidate running to be a senior federal Liberal party official in British Columbia has called Stephen Harper a "d-bag" in a posting on his publicly-accessible Facebook page.
And, in the same online conversation, he referenced how Hitler Youth got "swag" with "Nazi logos on it" while discussing a Conservative MP who tried to donate party-branded bottles of water to school children.
But, in an interview with Public Eye, Jason Lamarche said he wasn't suggesting the Tories were behaving like the Nazis.
Although he acknowledged he could have "re-calibrated" how he described the prime minister.
Lamarche, a popular partisan blogger, posted the facebook comments this past Sunday in reaction to Tory backbencher Shelly Glover's attempt to give those bottles to a school division in Manitboa.
"Seriouslysomeone tell that d-bag Harper to stop branding Canada as Conservativeanadathis article is so upsetting. First the cheques, then water bottles. When will it end?" Lamarche wrote of the attempt, which was rebuffed by the division.
He later added, "Didn't the Hitler youth get free swag with Nazi logos on it?"
Asked about the appropriateness of those comments, Lamarche told Public Eye, "I think it's up to the reader to judge for themselves what they think of it."
Specifically addressing his comment about the Hitler Youth, the candidate said he was "just trying to make the point I don't think political logos and brands have a place in the education system. So that was a historical reference to when (that principle) was broken. "
"People can infer what they want from it," he continued. "But I wasn't suggesting the Conservatives themselves are behaving along the lines of the Nazis, obviously."
As for calling the Prime Minister a "d-bag," Lamarche stated, "Could I have re-calibrated that phrase? Yeah, I could have. But do I think highly of the man and the thing his ministers do? No. And I don't shy away from that. I don't hide it."
Lamarche is running against Young Liberals national vice president of communications Braeden Caley to be the party's organization chair in British Columbia.
That race will be decided this weekend, when the province's Grits meet in Whistler for their biennial convention.
Coleman uses 'colourful' language
Housing and Social Development Minister Rich Coleman has said he doesn't have a problem with bureaucrats calling the Downtown Eastside "colourful."
That's how the troubled neighbourhood was described in a BC Housing concept paper proposing the creation of a homelessness information centre for media and visitors attending the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
Earlier, New Democrat critic Shane Simpson said it was a "disrespectful comment to suggest it's colourful."
But, speaking with Public Eye, Coleman responded, "If you'd ever been down there, you'd know it's actually true. There's a very colourful community down there - a cross-section of people who are pretty interesting folks."
In fact, the Fort Langley-Aldergrove MLA and former RCMP member said he walks around the community once every two or three weeks to talk with its residents.
"The last time I was down I met a guy named Rick from Fredericton who was pushing his cart up the street. I actually helped him pull his cart over some gravel. And we chatted about how long he's been out here, where he lives," recalled Coleman.
"He lives in an SRO in Vancouver and he works at a coop and he also collects bottles and he's quite happy living in Vancouver. And I think, quite frankly, I'm hoping we can put something together for the Olympics because I'm happy to be down there every day to tell people internationally just how good a job we do with homelessness - better than any other country in the world."
That being said, though, Coleman added he hasn't made a decision on whether to go ahead with the proposed homelessness information centre, which was revealed last week in heavily blacked out documents exclusively obtained by Public Eye.
Sean Holman is editor of the online provincial political news journal Public Eye (publiceyeonline.com). He can be reached at editorial@publiceyeonline.com.
