EDITORIAL: New Democrats show their true colours

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When a candidate in a federal byelection distributes a pamphlet with a picture of himself underneath a Palestinian flag on the front cover, one thing is for sure: The candidate and his party are so desperate for votes, they’re willing to put the needs of Canadians on the back page.

New Democratic candidate Craig Sauve, in the Quebec riding of LaSalle-Emard-Verdun, put out just such a piece of literature recently.

He reiterated the NDP’s support for Canada to recognize a Palestinian state, for a two-way military trade embargo and for Israel to “stop the genocide.” While he also called for a return of hostages and a ceasefire, his message was clearly one of support for the Palestinian cause.

“Is this NDP candidate running in Canada? Did the NDP not want to put a Canadian flag on their flyers?” asked Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer on social media.

New Democrats responded by saying Sauve did include a maple leaf on the brochure and that he frequently poses with Canadian and Quebec flags.

“It is ludicrous to suggest that when a politician is seen with another flag it’s un-Canadian, whether that’s the Ukrainian flag, Israeli flag, Palestinian flag or other nations,” said an NDP spokesman.

Fair enough. But surely the Canadian flag should be the predominant one in his literature.

It’s all about context. Any federal politician will, from time to time, be photographed with representatives and flags from other nations.

Whether you choose to campaign on the politics of that flag in a federal byelection is a matter of discretion. In this context, it’s cravenly obvious the NDP is playing to the grubby politics of divide and conquer.

The riding was held by former Attorney General David Lametti, who quit cabinet after he was dumped from that post in a cabinet shuffle. It’s a hotly contested vote, with the Bloc Quebecois and NDP both hoping to wrest the riding from the Liberals.

This country has its own homegrown problems right now — inflation, the carbon tax and the high price of housing. Those are what candidates should be putting front and centre in their literature. They should not be politicizing the incendiary geopolitics of the Middle East in the cynical hope it will win them a few votes.