In support of a veteran provincial member in the riding, the leader of the Ontario Party made a stop in Chatham on Friday night.
Derek Sloan was on hand at the Links of Kent Golf Club and Event Centre, where he spoke to approximately 50 people at a party fundraiser.
“We’re fighting for faith, family and freedom,” he said in comments prior to the event.
Rick Nicholls is running for the Ontario Party in Chatham-Kent-Leamington. Formerly in the Progressive Conservatives, he was ousted from caucus last summer for refusing to provide proof of vaccination.
The Ontario Party, founded in 2018, is running 105 candidates in the June 2 provincial election.
Sloan has been one of the most high-profile anti-vaccination mandate and anti-lockdown activists in the province during the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, he said the party isn’t simply an anti-mandate party, noting that freedom of medical choice and education are other priorities.
“We don’t believe people should have to disclose their medical status,” Sloan said.
He’s concerned the government’s approach to the pandemic will be used “any time there’s a spike in cases” in the event of future virus variants.
“We really do need to analyze the way we’ve addressed COVID,” Sloan said. “Because I think there’s a lot of flaws in that.”
The party is also opposed to critical race theory and gender ideology.
Nicholls, who has served as MPP since 2011, admitted this campaign has been adjustment compared to previous elections he’s been involved in.
While at the doors within the riding, he said he’s received support, including from some people who are vaccinated, while others have been less receptive to his position.
“If someone is vaccinated, fine, I’m OK with that. If someone is not vaccinated, fine, I’m OK with that too,” Nicholls said. “Let’s not have a two-tier society. Let’s not pit one group against another.
“That is totally unfair and it should never be that way.”
Sloan, a former Belleville-area MP, was ejected from the federal Conservative caucus in January of 2021.
Then-party leader Erin O’Toole formally triggered the effort to boot Sloan — a former leadership rival — after revelations that Sloan accepted a donation last year from a known white nationalist, news that broke after O’Toole declared there’s no room in his party for far-right extremism or racism.
In a statement at the time, O’Toole said the caucus voted to remove Sloan not because of one specific event, but because of “a pattern of destructive behavior involving multiple incidents and disrespect towards the Conservative team.”
– With Postmedia files