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B.C. minister accuses Burnaby council candidate of ‘misogyny’ after tweet

Council candidate says he was only questioning BC NDP 'nepotism'.

B.C.’s finance minister has accused a Burnaby city council candidate of “misogyny” after a tweet about the BC NDP’s candidate in an upcoming byelection.

Dr. Jeannette Ashe is running in the Vancouver-Quilchena byelection. She is married to Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart.

The BC NDP tweeted about the candidacy on the weekend and Martin Kendell – who ran in the 2021 Burnaby civic byelection and plans on running again this October - responded with this on Twitter: “Other than being Kennedy Stewart’s wife, what are her qualifications?”

That brought a swift response from Finance Minister Selina Robinson.

“Misogyny at its finest,” tweeted Robinson.

Kendell has now deleted the tweet. The NOW asked Kendell for a response about why he tweeted to question a woman’s qualifications for public office.

“My tweet came from a place of frustration about the lack of transparency from the BC NDP, and the ongoing nepotism and favoritism that the party constantly shows,” Kendell said in a statement to the NOW. “I felt they were taking steps to try and conceal that Jeanette Ashe was Kennedy Stewart's wife, and I think that the lack of transparency on that point is dead wrong. I was also in a bad place mentally on Saturday due to the antics and tantrums of my four-year-old daughter.

“I deleted the tweet as I was being attacked by NDP neophytes who weren't happy about my comment and were blowing up my notifications. I was gobsmacked that a sitting cabinet minister would take the time to quote tweet and unfairly refer to me as a misogynist. I can understand why someone would think my comment was misogynistic, but that wasn't the intent. I apologize to anyone who saw the tweet in that context, and reiterate that it wasn't my intention to belittle Jeanette Ashe's candidacy or credentials.”

Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.