INNISFAIL - The Freedom Conservative Party's (FCP) candidate for the Innisfail-Sylvan Lake riding is out of the provincial election race.
This week, the FCP, led by former UCP MLA Derek Fildebrandt, asked Clayton Knutson to resign because he failed to disclose full information on his candidate nomination package, which reportedly included prior controversial Islamophobic social media posts. The FCP has now endorsed Chad Miller, a 38-year-old oil and gas consultant from Sylvan Lake, as its new candidate for the Innisfail-Sylvan Lake riding.
At first, Knutson, a 37-year-old Red Deer oilfield engineer, refused to resign but he said he later reluctantly agreed.
"Yes they asked me to resign and I said I would refuse to resign. They've got your nomination papers. There is nothing I can do. They just pull them and you are off the ballot because you are supposed to have certification from the party to go ahead. So I resigned," Knutson told the Province. "They basically forced me to quit. I would have to go out and get more signatures and raise $500 deposit. Now that I have thought about it there is at least five different people on the ballot. I don't think I will be bothering with an independent run."
As for the allegation of posting Islamophobic social media messages, Knutson denied he is a racist, as well as posting anything racist. He said his messaging was just "criticism" against an "idea".
"Islam is simply an idea. Christianity is simply an idea. We need to be allowed to be able to criticize religion," said Knutson, a former supporter of the United Conservative Party who moved to the FCP because he was attracted to its libertarian conservative values and policies. "I don't ask atheists to not criticize my Christianity. I say, 'have at 'er', criticize my Christianity as much as you want. That is a free country.
"I criticize Islam all the time. There is a lot to criticize," he added. "I don't think you can be Islamophobic. I think it is a ...made up term."
Calls to the FCP for comment on the Knutson resignation were not immediately returned.
