TORONTO - The Liberal Party of Ontario has confirmed to Global News that a senior official has resigned after making a controversial comment about offering cigarettes for votes.
Nikki Holland, the party's operational vice-president, submitted her resignation on Friday and it was accepted.
She made the statements during a July 16 training session, according to a Sun Media report.
On the tape, Holland was heard saying, "I have gone to a shelter in the riding of St. Paul's with a carton of smokes and said, 'I'll give you them after you vote.'"
Holland responded to the report, saying she was sorry and that it was a joke.
Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty spoke about the allegations on Thursday morning at a campaign stop in Brampton.
"Completely unacceptable comment on the part of my worker. It was a bad joke in poor taste. She apologized for it," McGuinty said.
Earlier in the day, Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak criticized the Liberals for how they handled the incident.
"One of Dalton McGuinty's top campaign officials was boasting about trading smokes for votes," Hudak said at a campaign event in Ajax.
"That's a violation of the law."
"The question for Dalton McGuinty is: Does he condone this behaviour? What's he going to do about it? If this happened on my campaign, the person would be out the door."
© Shaw Media Inc., 2012. All rights reserved.