The Reform Party of Canada, which just established a committee to purge its membership of neo-Nazis and declared racists, has expelled five members for associating with racist organizations.
“Our investigations are such that four” of those expelled “are associated with the Heritage Front,” said Cliff Fryers, executive council chairman and chief operating officer for the party. He described the front as an organization promoting “racism and hatred.”
The fifth was expelled for signing up the four members.
All five live in the Toronto area.
The right-wing party, headquartered in western Canada, is now the fourth-largest political party in the country. At times, it surpasses Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and his Conservative Party in public opinion polls.
Established in November 1987, the Reform Party has continuously had a shadow of charges of racism and anti-Semitism hovering over it.
Last fall, the Reform Party was attacked by the opposition Liberal Party for having policies similar to those of American Republican presidential candidate David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan leader accused of racism and anti-Semitism.
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