At various times, Randy Hillier, an MPP from Eastern Ontario, has been known to call others “Nutbars.” It looks like he has finally joined those ranks. He advised supporters of the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa to plug the 911 help lines in Ottawa. That is the same as advising people to shout “Fire” in a crowded theater. It is irresponsible and it is illegal. It spells the end to a very edgy political career.
Not that it is a proud legacy. Randy first came to notice as the founder of the Ontario Landowners Association. It started in Renfrew and then Lanark County and spread across rural Ontario like a pandemic. Landowners are gun nuts who believe they own their land and the province has no rights over their land. It really went downhill when the landowners had an illegal deer hunt because the deer were eating crops. The province let them get away with killing deer. They still hate wind turbines, environmentalists and Trudeaus—both father and son. The Landowners have continued getting more ambitious as time goes on. They probably contributed most of the tractors that were littering downtown Ottawa this February.
Politically, Randy and the Landowners are extreme right-wing fodder for Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party. It appears that since Doug Ford kicked Randy Hillier out of the Ontario conservatives, Randy will be running in the June provincial election for the Ontario First Party—the Ontario branch of the People’s Party. We will all watch with interest to see how the voters of Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston react to that. Just why the voters in that part of Ontario have sent Randy to Queen’s Park since 2007 has always been a puzzle.
But first Randy should do some jail time. He has yet to be charged with inciting disregard of the laws protecting 911 calls from misuse. While I have never heard of anyone over the age of 15 being charged for that offence, Randy should spend some of his second childhood in the hoosegow.
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Copyright 2022 © Peter Lowry
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