Tories drop candidate who said Quebec massacre survivor plays ‘victim game’

Liberal candidate Nathalie Provost says she wants to see Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre call out 'shameful' comments by dropped Conservative candidate Simon Payette.

Liberal candidate Nathalie Provost says she wants to see Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre call out “shameful” comments by a now-dropped Conservative candidate, Simon Payette, who accused her of playing the “victim game” in her quest for stronger gun regulations.

A Conservative spokesperson confirmed to the Canadian Press that the party has now dropped Payette as a candidate — the latest in a slew of candidates shed by the Liberals and Conservatives this week over contentious comments, ahead of Monday’s nomination deadline in the federal election.

Provost, who survived being shot in the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre and who was awarded the Governor General’s Medal of Bravery for attempting to dissuade the shooter, says she was left speechless by some of the comments that tarnish the memory of her classmates subject to the worst mass-murder of women in Canadian history.

Payette left a series of comments on Provost’s Facebook page in French, often taunting her to participate in a live debate with him, the Canadian Press reported.

In one post, he writes that he will look her “straight in the eye” as he tears up Bill C-21, the gun control law passed under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, in Parliament under a Conservative majority.

He said he would then use the bill as toilet paper every time he uses the bathroom in Parliament.

Multiple other candidates have been dropped by the Liberals and Conservatives this week.

On Friday, Liberal Leader Mark Carney told reporters in Montreal Friday that Rod Loyola, who was running in the newly formed riding of Edmonton Gateway, is “no longer a candidate.”