Manitoba premier stands by candidate Wab Kinew

Wab Kinew, associate vice-president of Indigenous Affairs at University of Winnipeg, speaks to Canada AM on Thursday, Dec. 17, 2015.

WINNIPEG -- Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger is standing by one of his party's star candidates despite calls he should be let go for social media comments.

Selinger says Wab Kinew has apologized, has turned his life around and has worked to help others.

The Liberals are calling on Selinger to dump Kinew over offensive tweets, most of which date back to 2009.

The comments made fun of fat women, called a sport "gay" and appeared to make light of troubles on a reserve in northern Ontario.

Kinew says he is sorry for the words he used, and has also apologized for misogynistic lyrics he wrote as a rap artist a decade ago.

Kinew, a well-known broadcaster an author, is running for the New Democrats in the provincial election slated for April 19.