TORONTO -- Conservative Leader Erin O鈥橳oole spent his 16th day on the election campaign talking about his plan to ban puppy mills and to crack down on unethical breeders, and defended the fact his party鈥檚 platform mentions neither racism nor systemic racism.
The Conservative Party of Canada鈥檚 election platform, entitled 鈥,鈥 stretches 160 pages and comprises some 49,000 words, some of which are more used much more frequently than others.
For instance, the phrase 鈥渁 detailed plan鈥 is used 22 times in the table of contents alone, while the word 鈥渟ecure鈥 is used in five sub-headers highlighting the party鈥檚 plan to 鈥渟ecure鈥 the economy, jobs, and other key election issues. The word 鈥減uppy鈥 as it relates to today鈥檚 announcement appears twice.
But, as 麻豆影视鈥 Omar Sachedina noted, there are some words that are missing from the document entirely, including 鈥渞acism鈥 and 鈥淚slamophobia.鈥
Asked by 麻豆影视 during a media availability on Monday about the discrepancy, O鈥橳oole didn鈥檛 address the absence of the words directly, but said he has spoken out against racism and pointed to diversity among the Conservative slate of candidates.
鈥淚've spoken out on the horrific rise of anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, racism against people of colour, indigenous Canadians,鈥 he said during a campaign stop at a dog rescue and sanctuary in King City, Ont.
鈥淚 will fight for Canadians who have not had fair treatment, who face inequalities in their daily life. We need to make sure that they have an economic recovery as well, and so you'll see in our plan we want to see solidarity in communities,鈥 he added.
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O鈥橳oole made headlines during a Conservative leadership debate in when he wouldn鈥檛 say whether he thought systemic racism exists, although he said at the time he had zero-tolerance for racism.
The Liberals have yet to release their full platform, while the online includes the word 鈥渞acism鈥 more than a dozen times, and mentions 鈥淚slamophobia鈥 at least twice.