Doug Ford skipping Toronto’s Pride parade due to police exclusion
Posted June 4, 2019 8:44 am.
Last Updated June 4, 2019 10:16 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford will not march in this year’s Toronto Pride parade because organizers have again banned police in uniform from taking part.
A spokesperson for Ford said the premier has always said he will attend the parade when front-line police officers are allowed to participate in uniform.
Uniformed officers were banned from marching in the parade in 2017 after concerns of racial profiling.
Pride members voted in January to keep a ban in place this year.
Pride month kicks off Tuesday at Toronto’s City Hall.
History of politics and Pride
Ford’s late brother Rob never attended the parade when he was mayor of Toronto, citing an annual family trip to the cottage scheduled at the same time.
Justin Trudeau was the first sitting Prime Minister to take part in a Pride parade in 2016.
Kathleen Wynne, Canada’s first openly gay Premier, was the first Premier to march in the parade in 2013.
