Wildrose leader Danielle Smith is brushing off accusations that comments by one of her Calgary candidates could be seen as racist.

Ron Leech, who is running in Calgary-Greenway, seemed to imply that being white would work to his advantage in the race.

Leech apologizes for the comments and now says that's not what he meant. "I have a real heart for the people and to serve in the community and I apologize of something was said that seems to indicate anything different that my intent, which is to let you know, I have a great love for all the nations."

During the interview with a Calgary radio station on Sunday, Leech expressed that he had an advantage because he is white. "I think, as a Caucasian, I have an advantage. When different community leaders, such as a Sikh leader of Muslim leader, speaks they really speak to their own people in many ways. As a Caucasian, I believe that I can speak to all the community."

"What I intended to say was, first of all, it's not a disadvantage to me to run in Calgary-Greenway as a Caucasian. I've been to 23 nations of the world, as a lead in the community for 30 years. My leadership has involved 48 different nations that I've represented."

Wildrose leader Danielle Smith, who has already been forced to defend her own candidates following comments from Edmonton candidate Allan Husperger over the weekend, says she isn't concerned.

"I'm not concerned about them. I think every candidate puts forward their best argument for why they should be the person to represent the community."

However, several candidates from other parties feel differently, saying race is irrelevant when it comes to leadership.

"I think the true representation is people who care about family, people who understand issues, people who have the ability to connect with others who are different than they are. Anyone who says ‘because I'm white', ‘because I'm Chinese', because I'm this or that, I can represent all. I think that statement at all is a very shallow statement," says PC candidate Jason Luan.

PC candidate Manmeet Bhullar says his constituents don't care about his ethnicity. "They don't care if I have a turban on my head, a beard on my face, or if my skin is brown. They care that I connect with their issues and to suggest that only one person from a specific race can do a better job of that is just downright hurtful."

The PCs were also taking some heat for comments one of their candidates made during an interview with a Mount Royal student, found on Youtube.

Calgary-McCall Mohammed Rasheed made a statement that people would want to ‘see someone like them' represent them in legislature.

Rasheed says that he meant Conservatives and not the ethnic make up of his community. "What I mean by ‘like them' is hard working people, people that share Conservatism."