The condemnations came quickly for Stephen Lecce, but the PCs have his back.

Stakeholder groups and opposition parties castigated the Progressive Conservative candidate and education minister after PressProgress reported that he participated in a "slave auction" while president of his fraternity.

"The event from 2006 was inappropriate and in no way reflects who I am as a person, which is why I unreservedly apologize," Lecce said in the statement distributed to media Tuesday night. "I will continue to passionately advance the interests of all Ontarians — irrespective of faith, heritage, orientation or race."

The NDP called for Lecce to be removed as a candidate. The Liberal and Green leaders also denounced Lecce's actions, but declined to take stances on what his political future should hold.

Asked whether the Tories are considering axing Lecce, spokesperson Alex Hilkene replied to QP Briefing with a one-word email.

"No."

Two NDP candidates and members of the party's Black Caucus — Jill Andrew and Faisal Hassan — released a joint statement Tuesday night calling for Lecce to be removed as a candidate.

"Mr. Lecce chose to lead and participate in events that mocked and trivialized this painful history," Andrew and Hassan said. "He also chose to conceal them for years as a public official, as a minister charged with the education, opportunity and wellbeing of Black students and as the person tasked with overseeing the province’s investigations into anti-Black racism in schools. All of these actions are repulsive and constitute clear anti-Black racism."

PC Leader Doug Ford won't face media on Wednesday and it's not clear when his next public appearance will be.

The Liberals waited to respond until their leader was asked about the incident Wednesday morning. Steven Del Duca called the news "deeply troubling," but tiptoed around the issue, saying it's not for him to decide what should be done.

"I think it's important for — not so much for someone like me — but for the people in the communities that he is, in essence, apologizing to ... to be able to tell you publicly how they're feeling about the apology," he said.

Del Duca's federal cousins, of course, are led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has a history of engaging in blackface. If Del Duca were to call for Lecce's defenestration, the obvious next question would be why he thinks Trudeau is fit to lead the country.

Del Duca wouldn't say whether he thinks Lecce is racist.

"I'm a person who's got a lot of privilege in my life. And I don't think I'm best positioned to make a comment about whether another individual is racist or not," he said.

Green Leader Mike Schreiner also didn't call for Lecce's removal, but called the slave auction "blatantly racist and wrong."

"Lecce owes a sincere apology to the Black community in Ontario," he said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. "Slavery is not something to be mocked or laughed at. This is yet another stark reminder of how pervasive racism is in Ontario and why we need to commit to concrete measures to address it, especially in our schools."

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) called on Ford to "immediately address" the incident but didn't say whether he should remove Lecce.

"Minister Lecce willingly participated in an event that minimized slavery and trivialized its brutality and harmful impacts," the teacher union said in a statement. "It calls his judgement into question, as well as his commitment to dismantling anti-Black racism in the education sector. How can someone who does not have a clear understanding of and commitment to this work be responsible for implementing education policies that are intended to disrupt anti-Black racism and other forms of oppression?"

Del Duca said he was proud of his party's vetting process, noting it recently removed a Sault Ste. Marie candidate for "information that was not disclosed to us during the vetting process."

If parties are going to make any more changes, they'll have to move fast. The nomination period ends on Thursday at 2 p.m.

Ontario has 124 ridings. The PC, NDP and New Blue parties have nominated 124 candidates. The Greens have 123 after losing a candidate on Wednesday over Israel-Palestine issues. The Liberals have 116, but have promised to run a full slate.

QP Briefing asked the three main parties if they had plans to change their rosters. The NDP pointed to its list, the PCs said, "No," and the Liberals didn't respond.

The Liberals don't have candidates in:

Barrie—Innisfil
Kiiwetinoong
Haldimand—Norfolk
Kenora—Rainy River
Lambton—Kent—Middlesex
Sarnia—Lambton
Sault Ste. Marie
Timmins

According to the iPolitics polling dashboard, the PCs will likely retain or pick up all these seats — though it's still early days. The Liberals' current best chance looks to be in Kiiwetinoong (won by NDP Sol Mamakwa in 2018) but they're 12 points behind the Tories there.

Tories keeping Stephen Lecce despite ‘slave auction’ controversy

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