Ottawa PC candidate accuses Liberals of following, photographing her

At a candidates' debate Tuesday night, Ottawa South PC candidate Karin Howard claimed she's on edge because she's being followed by another party.

After making the allegation on stage Howard accused the Liberal party, but declined to do an interview about the allegations.

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Ontario Votes 2018: Ottawa South

The debate at Hillcrest High School hit all the hot topics — child care, hospital overcrowding, and balancing the budget — but took an odd twist during closing remarks.

"You may have seen me perhaps be a little testy," Howard told the audience. "I was told not to mention it, but you want straight up. You're going to get straight up from me every time.

"There is a party that is following me, taking photos of me, and taping me. I find that absolutely disgraceful in a democracy. You can trust me to try and treat my colleagues fairly and kindly for the most part. But for that edge you might sense, that's the reason for it."

After the debate, when CBC News asked Howard to explain what was going on, she exited the school and declined to answer.

"I made the statement. It's true," Howard told reporters. "If you want to know more about it you might want to ask the Liberal candidate what they're doing."

Howard's campaign manager said an official response would be released on Twitter, but didn't say when.

'I don't know what she's talking about'

The Liberal candidate for Ottawa South, John Fraser, denied Howard's allegations.

"I don't know what she's talking about. I don't see [during] an election campaign why anyone would do that. You don't have time," Fraser said, adding that he's too busy knocking on doors.

He said his team does opposition research that involves following opponents on social media and in the news, but not physically.

"We do social media research like every other campaign does," Fraser said. "That's just the environment we're in. You look at debates and what people have said in the media, all sorts of things, because you call people on it."

'Everyone on campaign teams should feel safe,' says NDP

It's a three-way battle in the Ottawa South riding that was once a Liberal stronghold.

NDP candidate Eleanor Fast said she thinks Howard's allegations could have been addressed outside of the debate. It was the first time she had heard about it.

"I think candidates and everyone on campaign teams should feel safe," Fast added. "But I really don't know anything about this particular allegation that was made."

As for her campaign, Fast said it's been "really exciting" over the past two weeks as about 150 new volunteers joined the team.

Voters head to the polls June 7.