BC Conservative candidate Damon Scrase resigned from his bid to run for the party after the legacy media resurfaced past tweets denouncing some elements of Pride parades.
However, Scrase has since said he stands by his comments condemning fringe aspects of the Pride movement and public nudity at parades in an exclusive comment to True North.
“Stepping down was my decision. I stand by what I said against public nudity and fringe elements in the pride movement, this campaign to fix BC far is bigger than me and I think it was the right thing to do for the long term prospects of British Columbia,” said Scrace.
Scrase’s resignation was prompted by former BC Liberal MLA and radio host Jas Johal. Since early May, Johal has been covering BC Conservative candidates, most notably Scrase, for old tweets that he labelled “extreme.”
Scrase was initially attacked for tweets he had posted describing abortion as the killing of an unborn child, and that praise for “abortion rights” was bizarre.
In mid-May, BC Conservative leader John Rustad had defended Scrase’s pro-life views at a BC legislature press conference, saying that “people are allowed to have their own views.”
The NDP accused Rustad of standing against women’s rights by defending Scrase.
“It’s disturbing to read this candidate’s views, and it’s even more troubling to see John Rustad condone them. It shows that Rustad is completely unwilling to stand up to his candidates who want to restrict the rights of women,” said NDP MLA Kelli Paddon.
The NDP has since continued their attack against Scrase, calling his positions “terrifying” and “hypocritical.”
In his thread on Scrase, Johal highlighted more of Scrase’s old tweets where he condemned “degenerates” who break public indecency laws, retweeted disturbing pictures from a Pride parade, and voiced opposition to segregation based on vaccine status.
BC United jumped on the news of Scrase’s resignation, calling his views “homophobic, racist, and anti-women.”
In a post on X announcing his resignation, Damon Scrase announced that he would no longer stand as the BC Conservatives’ candidate for Courtney-Comox, deleting his old tweets in the process.
“I’m a blue-collar guy who never aspired to be a public figure, and certainly not a politician,” said Scrase.
“I do not want my old, unfortunate comments to distract from the important work currently being done to fix our incredible province. As a result, I have informed the Conservative Party of BC that, effective immediately, I will be stepping down as the candidate for Courtenay-Comox.”
True North reached out to the BC Conservative Party for comment, though no comment has been given as of the time of publication.