Nearly 24 hours after being ousted from the B.C. Liberals, Chilliwack-Kent MLA Laurie Throness broke his silence and said he will continue to seek re-election as an Independent candidate.
Throness said his comment comparing free birth control to eugenics amounted to the use of an incorrect word.
“I want to apologize to all concerned for the damage done to my MLA colleagues and the Leader,” Throness said in a statement issued early Friday (October 16) afternoon. “Andrew Wilkinson is a good man who has dealt kindly with me on a personal basis throughout the summer and even yesterday. He should be our Premier.”
RELATED: Widespread reaction to BC Liberal ousting Chilliwack-Kent candidate for controversial comments
Throness’s latest controversial statement came from a Rotary Club all-candidates Zoom meeting in which he was expressing his concerns with the NDP’s position on birth control.
“It contains a whiff of the old eugenics thing where, you know, poor people shouldn’t have babies so, we can’t force people to have contraception so we’ll give it to them for free and maybe they will have fewer babies so there will be fewer poor people in the future,” he said.
During a radio interview with Mike Smyth on CKNW radio on Friday morning, Wilkinson said his exchange with Throness was a 30-second phone call during which he accepted Throness’s resignation as Liberal candidate.
Let’s be clear, I support government providing free contraception to anyone in B.C who wants it. #bcpoli #BCElection2020
— Andrew Wilkinson (@Wilkinson4BC) October 15, 2020
“It became clear that he was not prepared to play on a team,” Wilkinson said. He confirmed that if Throness won the Chilliwack-Kent riding, he would do so as an Independent.
Wilkinson delivered a formal statement on Thursday, October 15, a day after the controversy emerged.
“Yesterday Mr. Laurie Throness made statements that are not in keeping with the value of the BC Liberal Party or my own values,” Wilkinson said. “I therefore have accepted Laurie Throness’s resignation as a candidate for the BC Liberal Party in the upcoming election and we will move forward without him as a candidate.”
RELATED: BC Liberals cut ties with Chilliwack-Kent candidate Throness
The Liberal Party released a similar statement soon after, saying that “Laurie Throness has accepted that his comments were wrong and inappropriate.”
“It was clear that he couldn’t continue to be part of the B.C. Liberal team,” the party statement reads. “The B.C. Liberal Party is dedicated to a diversity of perspectives, but all party members are dedicated to inclusiveness and equality – that is not up for debate.”
Spurred on by “messages of support” amid the backlash he’s faced, Throness went on to say that “Chilliwack-Kent voters deserve a viable small ‘c’ conservative MLA who is unafraid of the freedoms of speech and religion, who embraces the thousands of social conservatives in this riding as well as social liberals.”
“I will inform voters that if they vote for me, I will sit as an Independent in the House and continue to speak from my heart and my conscience,” Throness concluded. “I’m in it to win it.”
Though he is currently listed on the ballot as a Liberal, if elected again, Throness would technically be the first Independent MLA in Chilliwack-Kent riding history. Chilliwack city Councillor Jason Lum is also running as Indepentent.
More to come.
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