Candidates and supporters look on as NDP Leader David Eby makes an announcement during a campaign stop at Puntledge Park in Courtenay, B.C., Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

By The Canadian Press

B.C.’s Eby asks Doerkson to remove campaign chief over social media slamming Islam

Oct 10, 2026 | 3:30 PM

VICTORIA — British Columbia NDP Leader David Eby is calling on Conservative interim leader Lorne Doerkson to fire his party’s campaign director for comments that called Islam an “abhorrent ideology” which needs to be expelled.

Eby, who was speaking at an unrelated campaign announcement on Vancouver Island on Saturday, says Doerkson must remove Katy Merrifeld for her comments related to the release of a report from the leader of the anti-immigration Restore Britain party.

The privately-funded report called “Rape Gang Inquiry” was published by Rupert Lowe in June.

Merrifield’s post, first published on June 17, places an expletive in front of the word Islam and she called on her audience to defend “Western civilization.”

Eby’s call for the removal of Merrifield comes after Doerkson fired Conservative candidate Joachim Agou for comments about Muslims, for which Agou has since apologized.

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Merrifeld has since said on social media that she took down her original post within hours, saying that her anger was directed “at the extremism used to justify these horrific crimes, not at Muslims or their faith.”

She says on social media that as a woman and rape survivor, she was brought to tears reading the report.

“I was heartbroken, horrified, and angry,” she says in a post. “I abhor the people who perpetuated that violence justified by their extreme ideology.”

When Eby was asked why he is calling for the removal of a person who is not on the ballot, he said that Doerkson has a chance to show where he stands.

“Either he removes her, or he very clearly would only remove a candidate, where they didn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of winning,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 10, 2026.

Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

B.C.’s Eby asks Doerkson to remove campaign chief over social media slamming Islam

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