Wild Rose Liberal candidate John Reilly, a retired judge, has apologized for comments he made on a Calgary radio show.
In a one-on-one interview on QR77, Reilly cited an example of a case he said did not warrant a lengthy jail sentence.
The case involved an offender jailed for the sexual touching of a woman without her consent.
“I don't think in those circumstances that what happened there should put that young man in a penitentiary for three years," Reilly reportedly told radio host Dave Rutherford.
"This is one of my problems with the criminal justice system the way it is, is that I say we put too much emphasis on the offence and not enough emphasis on the offender.
“If you're looking at what the Conservative government wants to do is say if this is the offence, you go to jail. And that's going to put people in jail that don't need to be there.”
At no time during the interview did Reilly condone sexual assault.
There are four candidates running in Wild Rose: Reilly, Conservative incumbent Blake Richards, NDP challenger Jeff Horvath and Green Party candidate Mike MacDonald.
On Thursday the Liberal Party released the following statement on Reilly's behalf:
“I unreservedly apologize for the clumsy example I used during my remarks last week on the Rutherford Show. I deeply regret any distress they may have caused and any misunderstanding about my own – and my party's – zero tolerance for sexual assault of any kind.
“I want to make explicitly clear that I believe that all sexual assaults should be prosecuted and the guilty individuals should be subject to sanctions.”
Conservative incumbent Blake Richards says the Liberals should drop Reilly as the Wild Rose candidate over the comments.
“I think the big thing is that the comments were totally unacceptable,” said Richards. “I was surprised he wasn't dropped. Sexual assaults are very serious crimes and there has to be serious consequences. It seems to be a common thing among Liberals, that they put the rights of criminals before the rights of victims.”
Richards said he believes sanctions for all sexual assaults should be substantial.
“The key for me is with sexual assaults there has to be serious consequences. That's a crime that leave scars on the victims and they are often permanent scars,” he said.
NDP Wild Rose candidate Jeff Horvath said: “He apologized and I'd say that was an appropriate thing to do.”
Asked if he believes Reilly should resign as a candidate, Horvath said, “I guess that's up to the Liberal Party.
Regarding sexual assault punishment, Horvath said: “Of course I'm a supporter of punishment for criminal activities, including sexual assault.”
Green Party candidate MacDonald provided the following comment:
“I believe the Green Party represents a new kind of politics that does not resort to personal attacks on another candidate. While I am concerned about Mr. Reilly's comments, they should be evaluated by individual voters. I would encourage people to listen to the interview and speak to Mr. Reilly to make an informed decision as to his intent and meaning.
“As the Green Party candidate I will remain focused on communicating our long-term vision for our country as we work towards building a strong future for our children.”
In an interview with this newspaper on Saturday, Reilly said he has no intention of resigning as the Liberal candidate in Wild Rose.
“I'm not commenting on that and I'm not going back there,” said Reilly. “I think they (Conservatives) took what I said and misrepresented it and then attacked the misrepresentation. They took what I said out of context. It was a mistake to use the example I used.”
