Toronto, April 30 (IANS) A Canadian candidate for the May 2 parliamentary elections has apologised for accusing his Indian-origin opponent of running his campaign "like Indian politicians."
Cam Stewart of the Liberal Party, who is pitted against sitting MP and Conservative Party candidate Devinder Shory in the Calgary Northeast constituency, had accused his rival of running his campaign "like Indian politicians'' after arguments between supporters of the two candidates earlier this week.
Angry over the incident, Stewart said, "Devinder Shory is running his campaign like Indian politicians do, intimidating and threatening opponent candidate's volunteers and supporters. This behaviour is not acceptable in our civilised democracy.''
But local Indo-Canadians and his top party bosses found his language racist and unacceptable, forcing Stewart to apologize to Punjab-born Shory who is seeking to retain the seat.
"I unreservedly apologize for the language I used in describing my Conservative opponent Devinder Shory in a news release issue...,'' said Stewart in his apology.
"I deeply regret any offence I may have caused and any misunderstanding about my own and my party's views. My statement was issued in the heat of the moment and the language chosen was unacceptable.''
According to the local Calgary Herald newspaper, Stewart said he used the words "Indian politicians'' after being urged by his supporters in the South Asian community.
"I wasn't going to, and they said . . . we don't want to bring our kind of politics into the country. In retrospect, I shouldn't have put it in . . . It's not against any people of Indian descent or Indians. I just want to make sure no one was offended by it,'' Stewart said.
His Liberal Party boss Michael Ignatieff took him to task by saying that his comments were "unacceptable.''
Fiftytwo-year-old Shory, who came to Canada from Barnala in Punjab in 1989, was first elected as an MP in the 2008 parliamentary elections.
He is one of the 23 Indian-origin candidates in the fray for the May 2 elections.