Canadian Minister revokes support to pro LTTEer - Globe and Mail

Canadian Conservative cabinet minister Peter Kent has criticized his own party for allowing a man who hosted a tribute to the LTTEers to run as a candidate.

"It is certainly a reflection on the party's lack of due diligence," Kent told The Globe and Mail on Thursday, referring to the candidacy of Gavan Paranchothy, a broadcaster running in Toronto's Scarborough-Southwest riding.

Last November, Paranchothy hosted a sombre program to mark Heroes Day, an annual commemoration of Tiger fighters killed in the separatist war in Sri Lanka. He called the dead militants "freedom fighters" and "heroes," though Stephen Harper's Conservative government labelled the Tigers terrorists in 2006.

"This program is unacceptable and it flies in the face of the fact that our government listed the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist organization," said Kent, a former foreign correspondent and the current Canadian Environment Minister.

His criticism came a full week after The Globe reported Paranchothy's involvement in the controversial program. At that time, Harper brushed aside questions about the broadcaster's candidacy, while his spokesman, Dimitri Soudas, said Paranchothy had been "crystal clear" in denying any Tiger sympathies during prenomination screening.

Kent, who said he completely missed the story last week due to a heavy campaign schedule, provided an endorsement to Paranchothy this week based on assurances he had been properly vetted by party officials. Jason Kenney, the Immigration Minister and a key Harper lieutenant, provided a similarly glowing testimonial.

When The Globe questioned him about his endorsement Thursday, Kent withdrew it and said Paranchothy should no longer be a candidate.

"The Tamil Tigers, in no context, can be portrayed as freedom fighters and heroes; they were terrorists," Kent said, adding that he was unaware of the video until The Globe sent him a link to it. "It was a tribute, and it's unacceptable even if he didn't write it, even if he didn't believe it."

The Tamil Tigers were notorious for using suicide bombings, child soldiers and political assassinations in their failed 26-year war for a separate Tamil state in Sri Lanka.

Since the war ended in 2009, remnants of the Tigers' large Canadian support base, based mainly in Toronto, have aligned themselves with the federal Tories and the Ontario Progressive Conservatives.