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A white supremacist group that is offering to help pay the rent of new members as part of its "relocation program - destination Calgary" has raised the ire of the city's mayor.

"The Aryan Guard is always seeking new brothers and sisters, if you are interested in relocating to our Calgary area, we will pay the damage deposit for your residence," a local member of Aryan Guard has posted on stormfront.org, a chat group that promotes "white pride."

"We believe that through fortifying our current locations with more White Nationlists [sic] we can spread the world more efficiently and than in the future branch out further throughout Canada," wrote the member, who called himself "pitbull-A.G."

Yesterday, Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier called the offer "distasteful," adding that offering cash incentives to join is evidence of the group's lack of support in the city.

"We don't support that group nor what they stand for," Mr. Bronconnier said.

Still, the eyebrow-raising offer has generated support among followers of the Neo-Nazi group as well as discussion about job opportunities in Canada's energy-rich boomtown.

"This announcement pleases me," one man from London, Ont., wrote on the website, "This is exactly one of the things we ought to be doing. We should start doing this in London too. The government can't do a thing to us just for helping other Whites settle in our cities. Whether it's helping them find a place to stay or find a job, all perfectly legal."

Aryan Guard, which boasts a few dozen members in Calgary, has been holding rallies and posting flyers around the city this year. The public displays have prompted anti-racism groups to hold counterprotests. Police in Edmonton expressed concerns about the group getting a toehold in that city.

Mr. Bronconnier said racism would not be tolerated in Calgary, where skyrocketing growth has transformed the city into multicultural metropolis of more than one million residents, according to new census figures.

Still, a recent Statistics Canada report concluded that Calgary had 9.1 hate-crime incidents per 100,000 people, according to police data, compared with the national average of 3.1 per 100,000.

The Calgary Aryan Guard did not respond to a request for comment.