Candidates take aim at Hillier in run up to election campaign

Jeff Green | Mar 02, 2022

Lanark Frontenac Kingston MPP Randy Hillier is used to being the target during local election campaigns, but in the election that is scheduled for early June he will be a bigger target than ever.

He will be running without the support of the Conservative Party, which has held this riding since it was established in 2013, and whichever riding that has included Lanark County for well over 50 years.

The Conservatives have nominated John Jordan to oppose him, the son of long serving Lanark County based MPP Leo Jordan.

Jordan has not made many public statements about Randy Hillier’s provocative stances during the pandemic, which have culminated in Hillier’s vocal support for the illegal occupation in downtown Ottawa.

But the PC Party establishment, the Premier, and the legislature itself, have.

Last week, the legislature voted to authorise the Speaker of the House to refuse to recognise Hillier should he attempt to speak during a legislative session, because of his “continued disreputable conduct”.

In the fall of 2021, Premier Ford said “The cheese slipped off the cracker with this guy. He’s gone rogue. The guy’s lost his mind in my opinion,” during a COVID-19 media briefing.

Ford's comments were precipitated by a series of tweets by Hillier which alleged that a number of people had died in whole or in part because they received COVID vaccinations, allegations that were quickly denied by family members of the deceased, some of whom expressed disgust that Hillier had used their private family tragedies to promote his own political causes.

The tweets were pulled down and Hillier apologised.

More recently, Hillier made news when he described the Federal Minister of Transportation as a “terrorist” for pursuing a vaccine mandate for truckers crossing the border.

The Minister, Omar Algabra, is of Arab descent and Hillier has been accused of racism to single him out with the “terrorist” description.

Earlier this week, The Lanark Frontenac Kingston Green Party candidate in the June election, Marlene Spruyt, put out a release supporting the legislatures' decision to sanction Hillier.

“Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston residents deserve better representation than this,” Spruyt said. “We are now left with no representation, but taxpayers are still footing the bill for this member.”

Spruyt went on to say: “this is not the first time MPP Hillier has made a racist tweet towards a federal Minister. On June 1, 2020, Minister Ahmed Hussen spoke about his own experiences with anti-black racism. To which MPP Hillier tweeted “A guilty conscience?”.

As part of his role in the Ottawa protest and occupation, Hillier told a crowd during one of the rallies at Parliament Hill “This is the hill we die on.”

Although he was not at the protest when police came to break it up days later, Hillier tweeted out a call for everyone in the public to flood police lines with phone calls, a tactic that was used by supporters of the protest to divert police resources from the task of clearing out the occupation.

There were calls for Hillier's arrest for advocating for false emergency calls to be made to the 911 system, endangering those with real emergencies.

Hillier responded by saying he was only advocating that people phone the Ottawa Police administration phone line, not the 911 service.

The Liberal party candidate in the June election, Amanda Pulker-Mok, put out a strongly worded condemnation earlier this week.

“I know, from speaking with so many residents, that Mr. Hillier in no way represents the views and ideals of the vast majority of people in this riding,” said Pulker-Mok. “Quite frankly, his actions are not just embarrassing – they’re downright dangerous and dishonest and shine a public spotlight.

“I add my voice to the chorus and condemn Mr. Hillier’s behaviour in the strongest terms possible.”

The riding association release said that Hillier used his twitter platform to “encourage supporters to clog up Ottawa’s 911 emergency system with fake calls as police forces worked to clear the illegal occupation of Ottawa’s downtown core.”

Pulker-Mok added : “We – the taxpayers of this province – are paying Mr. Hillier a big salary to do what? To put people’s lives in danger by encouraging his supporters to block 911 calls? It quite honestly sends chills down my spine. Enough is enough.”

Pulker-Mok said that Hillier should resign his seat immediately.