John Gardner is unapologetic after being removed as the Liberal candidate for Saint Croix.
He was informed the party cut ties with him after social media posts considered offensive to women and the LGBTQ+ community came to light.
Gardner contends he is part of that community and works at the Windsor House in Saint Andrews, which is gay owned and operated.
He described telling his team about the call from the Liberal party on Monday night.
“I walked into a room full of gay men to announce that I am no longer a Liberal candidate because I am a homophobe. There was this absolute sense of disbelief that I was being labelled as a homophobe,” Gardner said.
Gardner said he is getting married to a man on Saturday.
“Would I make those comments again? Absolutely. I believe we need to be having discussions. We need to be working together. We need to be cooperating as a society,” Gardner said.
Gardner said there is a freedom in not being tied to a political party.
“I have stood arm in arm with the people of this riding for so long. I talked to one of the groups and they were like ‘you are the guy with the bullhorn out fighting for us.’ Those people know me and they are celebrating,” Gardner said.
Gardner said he feels “150 times better” about his campaign than he did a week ago.
As for campaign issues, Gardner’s primary concerns are rural health care and year-round ferry access for Campobello Island residents.
Before this election, he worked on several political campaigns “sometimes for the red side and sometimes for the blue side”.
