Tories drop candidate over Twitter joke about date rape drug

"When it comes to things like rape culture and making jokes about it, that crosses a line," said PC Leader Jamie Baillie.

He said that as party leader and a father of two teenage daughters, he had to take action.

"I am trying to show them that we cannot make light ofrape culture, that we have to respect people of all races, religions, creeds, sexual orientation," saidBaillie.

Crnogorac said she shouldn't have posted the jokes.

"In politics, we're everyday people and in today's world, we're going to leave a digital footprint and guess what, we're not perfect," she said. "I didn't try to be someone I wasn't, I didn't try to erase any of my past. I am who I am."

Double standard alleged

Both Crnogorac and her campaign manager, Jillian Blackman,said the situation highlights how women are held to a higher standard in politics than men.

They pointed specificallyto Matt Whitman, the PC candidate for Hammonds Plains-Lucasville,and a video that he posted online in late March.

In the video, Whitman is sitting in a car with another passenger. He yells"Chinese fire drill!" and then gets out of the car. Amid laughter, he and a passenger run around the car and switch seats.

Whitman later apologized for the video.

Crnogorac calledthe video racist.

Blackman said the party stood behind Whitman.

"They didn't do the same for Jad and the only reason we can see for that is perhaps she didn't have as much value to the campaign as he did," said Blackman.

Janet Fryday Dorey, the party's campaign co-chair,disputes that.

"I believe that our other candidate [Matt Whitman]was uninformed and when he became informed, he apologized and we certainly are willing to move on, but this one so totally crosses the line," she said.

Crnogorac said that while the PCs talk about how they're supportive of women and want more women to run for them, behind the scenes it's a different story.

"There have been several instances that have happened with me personally that I was not defended," she said.

One example Crnogorac pointed to was when she recently appeared on the cover of the satire publicationFrank Magazine. She said no senior campaign officials contacted her afterwards to offer support.

Social media takes down multiple candidates

Crnogoracis the third candidate this election to be dropped due tointernetposts.

Dartmouth East NDP candidate Bill McEwan resigned on Monday night following revelations about a blog he used to run. Earlier in the electionLiberal candidate Matt MacKnight was removed from the ticket in Pictou East due to old tweets that resurfaced.

McEwan and Crnogorac will remain on the ballots, however, because their withdrawal comes after the nomination period closed.

'Shut up and cover up'

Crnogoracsaid the party asked her to delete images she had posted to Instagramof herself. Crnogorac is a fitness trainer and has posted photos of herself in a bikini. The party said it sometimes asks candidates to remove posts.

"In 2017, we don't think that a woman should be asked to kind of shut up and cover up and step aside and that's exactly what's happened," saidBlackman.