Mayoralty Candidate Defends Postings

Aug 30, 2018 | 12:00 PM

One of the Vernon mayoralty candidates is having to defend comments he made on social media a few years ago.

Reports say Darrin Taylor referred to the Vernon Climate Action Group as “hard-left enviro-nazis.”

Taylor says while it was unfortunate phrasing, he was calling out the group for suggesting the Alberta oil fields should be shut down.

“What i launched an attack on was someone bringing in suggestions that don’t make sense. And I’ll call anyone out on that,” Taylor told Beach Radio News.

He says his comments back then don’t mean he’s a climate change denier.

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“For someone to extrapolate that that is my opinion, is simply unrealistic and an unfair characterization. Certainly I believe climate change is real,” adds Taylor.

Taylor also referred to Vernon as a “hicktown” in a posting years ago, which he says was taken completely out of context, and was a play on words related to the song Hicktown by Jason Aldean.

“I’m not going to comment any further on those (criticism about past social media postings). I answered questions in detail on the (CBC) radio, and I consider it a closed case. It’s disappointing, but that’s something you face when you run.”

by Corey Fischer