The NDP candidate for Elgin-Middlesex-London announced Thursday she has stepped away from the Feb. 27 provincial vote.
Amanda Zavitz made the announcement on her Facebook page.
She advised, “It has become clear that my past comments are distracting from the critical task of defeating Doug Ford and electing an Ontario NDP government.”
On Wednesday, the Ontario PC Party issued a media release noting Zavitz’s secret desire to become a black woman to gain lived experience “of poverty, and living in addiction and alcoholism.”
Zavitz made the comments last March while speaking at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women conference in New York City.
She said she wanted to be a sociologist and a women’s studies professor and added, “I want to be an expert in inequality with lived experiences of poverty and living in addiction and alcoholism.
“I want to be able to share my ideas without the barrier of white skin, blonde hair and blue eyes.”
Zavitz is a sociology professor at Western and is the owner of a St. Thomas restaurant.
The PC Party media release noted Zavitz is another example of the NDP’s “motley crew of radical candidates.”
A similar release on Wednesday targetted the NDP candidate in Oakville North-Burlington as “a radical activist who organized protests that tried to shut down a local meat processing plant that employs hundreds of workers.
“He is on record saying that ‘supporting the animal agriculture industry is quite possibly the stupidest thing humans do.’”
In that release, Elgin-Middlesex-London PC candidate Rob Flack observed, “By recruiting candidates who want to destroy and boycott the agri-food industry, (NDP Leader) Marit Stiles has made it clear that the NDP has abandoned rural Ontario.”
Written by Ian McCallum
