The case of Delta NDP candidate Jeremy Leveque's deleted tweet

We’re halfway through the federal election and one thing has become clear: hell hath no fury like an old tweet rearing its ugly head.

And while some would-be politicians have already been sentenced to death by tweet, I’m sure others are quietly hoping their questionable remarks will remain scrubbed from their digital record.

But that’s just not how the political world works.

Politicians are quite happy to reap the benefits of social media, so they should also be held accountable for the statements they made before they joined the carefully crafted political spin machine.

We have come to assume politicos will polish up their PR moves, but deleting your social media paper trail shows you’ve got something to hide and aren’t willing to admit the errors of your ways.

Case in point: Jeremy Leveque, the NDP candidate for Delta.

Jeremy joined Twitter in February 2012, and according to his Twitter page, he didn’t start posting tweets until December 2013. But the reality is that Leveque actually spent months showing the Twitterverse his true colours.

The website Tweet Tunnel, which archives old and deleted tweets, shows activity going back to May 28, 2013.

It appears his timeline has been scrubbed clean of gaffes and profanities, which is funny, given his feelings toward the practice.

According to the NDP’s official website, Leveque has “earned two degrees in political studies, [and] he’s now a PhD candidate in sociology.”

In now-deleted tweets, Leveque enjoys reminding everyone of his academic achievement.

After all, he’s very “busy doing this thing called writing a PhD.”

Of course, he really believes in academic freedom.

And, naturally, he’s very good at facilitating open, healthy debates.

He really doesn’t seem to have time for politicians.

He doesn’t even like Ted Kennedy.

Or Thatcher, which is interesting, given his leader’s views.

Maybe he’s just an ageist?

Either way, he certainly does have some interesting views for an NDP candidate.

And he knows it.

A year ago, he predicted Mulcair would follow Harper, and pledge to balance the budget.

And, well, we’ll just leave this here.

 

Leveque has not responded to PoliBuzz‘s request for comment.