Liberals reviewing Etobicoke Centre candidate for remarks about the LGBTQ community

The Liberals are reviewing a Toronto candidate for remarks about the LGBTQ community, including an observation the term homophobia is being tossed around like confetti."

Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca said the party - which quickly dumped three other candidates this week - will take a closer look at the writings of Noel Semple, a law professor running in Etobicoke Centre, in The Varsity student newspaper while he attended the University of Toronto in 2004.

I believe in making sure we have all the information in front of us before we can make any kind of decision about how we're going to go forward," Del Duca told reporters in Scarborough a day after the party dropped its candidate in Chatham-Kent-Leamington for using an F-word gay slur on Facebook eight years ago within a half hour of the NDP revealing it.

He said he was not aware of Semple's writings until they were raised by the Star and moved to assure the LGBTQ community Friday that we are your allies" in the June 2 election campaign, citing several candidates from that community by name.

Semple authored an opinion piece arguing against a levy on students that would raise $25,000 for a campus group called LGBTOUT and said the money would be better spent on other causes such as fighting poverty.

LGBTQ people, by contrast, are not a needy or victimized subset of society," he wrote in the March 15, 2004 edition.

You're here, you're queer; we got used to it a long time ago. Go find your $25,000 elsewhere."

Semple, who made it clear in the article he supports same-sex marriage, also compared the harassment of lesbian, gay and trans people to being taunted as a boy.

I don't doubt that there are a few scumbags out there who might personally insult or attack students because they're gay. I was a fat kid. I used to get teased about it."

Semple could not immediately be reached for comment. The Star left a message at his campaign office.

He is running against a Doug Ford cabinet minister, Kinga Surma, in Etobicoke Centre, a previously Liberal riding the party is looking to regain. Del Duca appeared with Semple at a school playground on the first day of the campaign.

Until I know what's behind those I'm not going to comment on the specifics," Del Duca said of the comments in The Varsity article.

On Wednesday, the Liberals fired their candidate in Parry Sound-Muskoka minutes after the Star revealed he authored a 2009 self-published book promoting the baseless theory that homosexuality is caused by infants rebreathing" their own air.

A candidate in Sault Ste. Marie was axed on Tuesday for undisclosed reasons. The three candidates who were terminated were all long-shots in ridings that have been solidly Conservative.

Nevertheless, Del Duca maintained his party does not have a problem with its screening of candidates as Liberals hope to rebound from being reduced to just seven MPPs at the legislature after Ford's 2018 victory.

I believe our process has been vigorous."

Rob Ferguson is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @robferguson1