Rod Loyola speaks during a 2019 provincial campaign event held in Edmonton. National Post
Rod Loyola will no longer run as the Liberal candidate in Edmonton Gateway. The decision came after a 2009 video surfaced where Loyola spoke in support of Hamas and Hezbollah. In the video, he said these groups were fighting for their people and shouldn’t be called terrorists.
He made the comments during a protest in Edmonton against NATO. At the time, Loyola was performing as a rapper under the name Rosouljah with a group called People’s Poets. The video was taken at Churchill Square, where he spoke and performed. Loyola called the two groups “movements for national liberation.”
After the video was shared with the Liberal campaign, they quickly responded. On Thursday evening, the party confirmed that Loyola would no longer represent them. “Mr. Loyola is no longer our candidate for Edmonton Gateway,” wrote campaign spokesperson Isabella Orozco-Madison.
Loyola didn’t respond to any requests for comment. He had recently left provincial politics to run federally. He served as a member of Alberta’s legislature with the NDP since 2015. The Liberals nominated him just a few days earlier, on March 26.
At his campaign launch on March 29, Loyola praised party leader Mark Carney. He said Carney was the right person to stand up to political challenges from the U.S.
This isn’t the first time Loyola has received criticism. In the past, he spoke highly of leaders like Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro. In a 2021 podcast, he said he supported Latin American governments that focus on social rights. He also claimed Canada could learn from Cuba and Venezuela in some areas.
Loyola has shown support for Venezuela's government even after many accused it of human rights abuses. In 2013, he helped organize an event in Edmonton to honor Chávez after his death. The event was promoted as a show of support for the Venezuelan people.
Loyola also compared Alberta’s oil industry to Latin American military regimes. In a 2014 interview, he said oil projects sometimes hurt local communities the same way those regimes did. He ran for Alberta’s NDP leadership that year but got just 2% of the vote.
In 2018, Loyola converted to Islam. Critics now say his past comments and views should have been caught much earlier.
Casey Babb, who works with a group that fights extremism, said Loyola should never have made it this far. He believes Loyola’s views are too extreme and says political parties need to screen candidates more carefully. Babb added that some radical beliefs are now blending with political movements that are supposed to promote peace and fairness.
Mark Carney confirmed Loyola was no longer with the party but didn’t say why. With the deadline to submit candidates approaching, parties are rushing to avoid further controversy.
