Thompson mayoral candidate who founded online hate group suspends campaign

A candidate for mayor in Thompson says he's pulling out of the race at his wife's request after racist comments he posted nearly a decade ago resurfaced online.

Ryan Brady, who founded a group called Winnipeg White Pride Warriors and was a regular poster on the white-nationalist forum Stormfront in 2009 and 2010, says he made the decision to withdraw at his wife's request.

"People are threatening different things, people are doing doing all sorts of stuff, and it's stressing her out more than it's stressing me out," he said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

Brady, 29, announced he was dropping out of the mayoral race in a post on Facebook. He says his name will still be on the ballot on election day because the date to formally withdraw was Sept. 19, but he won't be actively campaigning.

"If people still want to vote for me they can," he said. "If not, then they can choose another mayor or whatever, they can elect whoever they want, which has always been the case, so we'll see what happens.".

If his wife hadn't urged him to withdraw, Brady says, he would have stayed in the race.

"If it wasn't for her — no, there would be no way in hell I would drop out of this race because I feel like I could do something for my community, and I can do great things with them by working together as a community," he said.

Brady faced an online backlash over past comments that referred to Jews as "vermin" and "filthy creatures," called Asians "sly and cunning" and said Indigenous people should stay on their reserves. 

If by chance he manages to win on election day, Brady says, he would "continue to work with the Indigenous community, and help make Thompson a better place to live for everyone."

Even though he is no longer seeking the job as mayor, Brady says he still wants to work with Indigenous people and others in his community, and plans to attend events to learn more about residential schools and Indigenous cultures.