Convicted child predator featured alongside Liberal byelection candidate
A new report alleges that a convicted child sex offender, a former teacher of an Islamic school, was “deeply embedded” in the Liberal Scarborough Southwest campaign.
Author: Clayton DeMaine
The Liberal by-election campaign in the Ontario riding of Scarborough Southwest is facing heat after a new investigative report by The Bureau found that a convicted child sex predator was photographed with former NDP MPP Doly Begum in her campaign to represent the riding as a federal Liberal.
The report by The Bureau founder, Sam Cooper, unveiled, through analyzing multiple campaign photos, videos and CBC reports, in which Yusuf Ali Talukdur, convicted in 2010 by an Ontario Court for sexually touching a young girl under the age of 14, was photographed alongside Begum at several campaign events. The campaign has denied knowing about Talukdur’s conviction and said he does not hold an official role on the campaign.
The photos span from Begum’s campaign launch, and several subsequent videos and photos show Talukder in close proximity to Begum, and even feature him meeting with both Prime Minister Mark Carney and Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree, and Liberal MP Salma Zahid.
Cooper further wrote that some of Talukder’s posts on Facebook, which predominantly promote Begum in the riding, include references directing readers to the campaign’s office and media comms team.
“The address, campaign email, phone number and voter-transportation messaging in Talukder’s posts matched communications used by the Begum campaign.
Neither the Liberal party, Begum’s campaign team, nor Talukder responded to Juno News’ requests for comment; however, as reported by The Bureau, the party and campaign indicated they were “unaware” of Talukder’s history. They also stated that these were public events and that Talukder did not have an official role in Begum’s campaign.
Talukder’s conviction is on the public record, and was reported by multiple news outlets, including the Toronto Star. The most recent article from the Toronto Star found that despite losing his teaching license, Talukder continued to work as a private tutor.
As reported in the media, the court documents reveal that Talukder groomed a young female student at the Islamic Dhaka Learning Centre in Toronto, with escalating sexual advancements, including sticking his hand into her shirt and touching the child’s breasts.
According to the court, when confronted by the victim’s parents, Talukder told them to punish him themselves and warned that if they went to the police, the “community” would think poorly of the victim.
Scarborough Southwest is one of three federal ridings holding byelections on Monday. With recent floor crossers, the Liberal government just needs to win one of the three byelections to secure a majority government in the House of Commons.
Scarborough Southwest is one of the two ridings considered safe for the Liberals.