CHUTE-A-BLONDEAU, Ont. - Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is standing behind a candidate who is coming under fire from the other parties for comments he made about religion and Nazis.

The Liberals are calling for Horwath to dump Anthony Marco as the NDP candidate in Niagara-West-Glanbrook, the riding held by Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak.

In a podcast posted on his website before he became an NDP candidate, he said for some people the old politics of Nazi Germany might be their religion, but that he can't condemn other people's religion.

Horwath says with the Liberals singling out that one comment they are misleading people and choosing to sling mud over discussing issues.

The NDP released a statement from Marco saying any suggestion that he would downplay the crimes perpetrated by the Nazis is offensive and decried what he called the Liberals' smear tactics.

In a fuller version of the text of the podcast in question, shown to reporters by the NDP, Marco talks about how he is against burning books, even if he is against the ideology in a book, such as one by Adolf Hitler.