Pickering mayor condemns city councillor’s appearance on far-right broadcast
Posted August 7, 2024 5:02 pm.
Last Updated August 10, 2024 11:04 am.
The mayor of Pickering, Ont. and five members of city council are condemning a colleague’s recent appearance on a controversial far-right show after the host falsely accused them of supporting pedophilia.
On July 31, Councillor Lisa Robinson joined an online show hosted by streamer Kevin J. Johnston on the far-right social media platform, Rumble.
During the broadcast, Johnston, a failed mayoral candidate in Mississauga, Ont. and Calgary, Alta., published the names and phone numbers of council members and falsely labelled them as “pedophiles,” “Nazis” and “fascists.”
At one point the host also said they “deserve a baseball bat to the face” and suggested that a vicious dog be let loose at city council meetings.
The mayor and council say Robinson’s appearance on the show is a violation of the council code of conduct and they intend to file a joint complaint to the city’s integrity commissioner.
Robinson previously received a 60-day pay suspension for “homophobic and transphobic behaviour” displayed at a Durham District School Board meeting in May 2023 and was dumped as a candidate by the federal Conservatives for Islamophobic social media posts that resurfaced during the 2021 election campaign.
In a statement released on Aug. 7, Mayor Kevin Ashe and the remaining members of city council said they intend to issue a formal request to Premier Doug Ford and the municipal affairs minister to allow stricter sanctions beyond the suspension of pay.
“This inflammatory, defamatory, and violent rhetoric is not only reprehensible, but also poses a direct threat to our safety and the safety of our families,” a statement reads. “Instead of refuting or condemning these reprehensible comments, Councillor Robinson often smiled, chuckled, or nodded her head in agreement throughout.”
“Her willingness to align herself with such an individual and imply her support of his dangerous views is very alarming,” the mayor and councillors added.
In a statement sent to CityNews Toronto on Aug. 8, Robinson said, “I do not condone anything that Mr. Johnston said in a hateful manner or that advocates violence against any of my fellow councillors.”
“I want to make it perfectly clear that I reject and disassociate myself from any such rhetoric,” Robinson added.
