PQ candidate Michelle Blanc under fire for racist tweet

Parti Quebecois Leader Jean-Francois Lisée is defending a candidate who falsely accused a college professor of being a pedophile and used the N-word to describe a customer service agent.

In a tweet written six months ago addressing the telecom company Bell, Michelle Blanc used the N-word while complaining that a customer service representative addressed her as "monsieur."

"An employee insists on calling me 'Sir' because my voice is masculine. My response, your voice is African and I don't call you my little n--ger," part of the tweet read.

Blanc, who is transgender, confirmed to CBC News that she did write the tweet, and that she deleted it before the start of the campaign.

Lisée defended his candidate Thursday night when he was asked about the post at an event.

"Long before she entered politics, she removed the post herself," Lisée told reporters, specifying that she wrote the tweet when she was a private citizen.

"If we tell the young generation, 'You cannot go into politics because 10 years ago you wrote something that was wrong, even if you took it down — I mean, at a certain point we have to be reasonable."

This is the second of Blanc's posts to cause controversy in the last two days.

Earlier Thursday, blogger Xavier Camus, said he had filed a cease-and-desist order against Blanc for alleging that he was a pedophile. The post, since deleted, suggested he was attracted to 15-year-old girls.

Camus, a philosophy professor, has published blog posts highlighting what he says is proof of the PQ's affiliation with the far right.

Lisée said Blanc should not have made those comments about Camus on Twitter.

"Of all our candidates, she is really the one who is the target of the most insults. Last night, she made a mistake," he said.

Blanc responded on Twitter late Thursday, saying she "sincerely apologizes" to Camus and retracts her comments.

"I know what it is to be unfairly and personally attacked on social media, which should have caused me to be even more vigilant and cautious…I invite all internet users, of all parties, to learn a big lesson from this," part of her tweet read.

Camus has now retracted his cease-and-desist order.