Christine Rudman has serious concerns about the character of the Conservative Party of Canada candidate vying to represent Elgin-St. Thomas-London South in this month’s federal election.So, the Port Stanley resident has organized a Stand Up For Decency Rally this afternoon (April 12) in front of Lawton’s campaign office.
In an interview this week, Rudman talked about what specifically moved her to go beyond casting her ballot for another of the four candidates.
“I think a lot of people in our riding have some issues with Andrew Lawton and his worldview, to be perfectly honest. We’re in precarious times as a country. Our sovereignty has been threatened. We have fascism at the door. And I think it’s really important that we have someone qualified, for one, who grew up in the area, would be two, and who has the values that represent our region.
“And it’s clear that Andrew Lawton doesn’t have those values, and he’s shown himself over the last 10 years, for sure.”
Rudman continued, ” I think Andrew Lawton has an agenda that’s much bigger than this region, and it’s, from my perspective, nefarious.
“I think it speaks volumes that Karen (former MP Karen Vecchio) wasn’t willing to endorse him. And she was very well-liked in this riding. So I’m hoping that her speaking out and saying that she couldn’t endorse him will ring true for a lot of people in the area, and they’ll listen to somebody who they value and respect.”
Rudman stressed this is not about promoting any of the other three candidates.
“This is really not a blue or a red issue for us. I think in our protest we’re probably split right down the middle, to be honest. I think there are a lot of people who generally vote blue who are coming out to protest on Saturday because they’re disturbed. We weren’t offered a legitimate candidate.”
That last remark is related to the nomination process undertaken earlier this year, and you can read our item discussing that here.
At the time of the nomination, Vecchio remarked, “There sure was a lack of transparency.”
Rudman zeroed in on the message she is trying to convey.
“This is not your typical PC candidate. This is not a blue candidate. This is something alt-right and populist, and very American-flavored. And that’s not what we need right now. We don’t ever need that.
“And I know that there’s been some pushback in our conversations with people who have been concerned that, you know, he’s copped to the egregious remarks he’s made in the past, whether it’s Islamophobic or homophobic or misogynist.
“And I just feel I have a lot more respect for the constituents in this riding, and I’d really like them to know and be clear and vote their conscience. I think that’s part of democracy.”
“It’s well documented how he feels about those communities. Now I know he’s kind of apologized and sort of pointed to his mental illness at the time as an excuse for this kind of rhetoric, but I don’t know that he’s changed.
“We’re very concerned about his relationship to Pastor Hildebrandt (from Aylmer’s Church of God) in the last 10 years, as well as the convoy, which he supported. And I think he’s kind of gotten around that conversation by saying he was a journalist and was writing Poilievre’s book at the time (CPC leader Pierre Poilievre). But it all feels very disingenuous and not very truthful.”
Rudman continued, “I think that the Conservative Party was really counting on this riding going into the election quite blindfolded and just voting blue. And I just feel I have a lot more respect for the constituents in this riding, and I’d really like them to know and be clear and vote their conscience. I think that’s part of democracy.“I’m really hopeful and optimistic that people are more open than I thought they would be. I believe in people. I think people have good hearts and goodwill. And I think most people, given the facts, will make a moral decision because I don’t think this is an ethical candidate. And we need to do everything we can to just sort of inform people about his views.”
She wrapped up the conversation with, “I’m hoping Saturday at the protest that people driving by will stop and have conversations with the people who are there, and we can share our concerns with them.
“Because I think what we’re seeing a lot in politics now is that people are voting against their best interests because they have a perspective about who the candidate is, but it’s really not accurate. And I think people need to be informed.”
Today’s rally will take place from 2:45 to 5:15 p.m. at 626 Talbot Street in St. Thomas.
ANDREW LAWTON’S RESPONSE
In response to the planned peaceful demonstration this afternoon in front of the campaign office of Conservative Party of Canada candidate Andrew Lawton, we requested a statement from Lawton or his campaign team.
We were sent the following comment, which is from Lawton’s Facebook post on March 14th, where these issues were addressed.
“Throughout my career, I’ve been open about my struggles with mental illness. I nearly succeeded in taking my own life in 2010 during a battle with depression that lasted throughout adolescence and into my early twenties.
In that time, I was reckless, self-destructive, and said and did things that were deeply hurtful. Anyone who’s suffered with mental illness, or stood by a loved one who has, knows all too well the erratic and irrational behaviour it can elicit. Many endure this battle privately. For me, at the time of my illness, social media became an unfortunate and extremely negative outlet.My past comments as a young man have been publicized at length, and I remain deeply ashamed of my conduct throughout this period.
I am grateful for those in my life who stuck by me and those who gave me a second chance to define myself as I am.
Had I succumbed to my demons, I would not be able to live the life I’m living now – with my intelligent and beautiful wife, my embrace of faith, my successful career, and the opportunity to run in the upcoming election.
Since my past statements first came to light a decade ago, I have achieved many things I’m proud of. I’ve written two bestselling books and have done countless interviews with mainstream media outlets. I’ve spoken at numerous events across the country. I’ve written and reported on stories that have shaped national discourse. I’ve also channelled my past into advocacy, volunteering on the board of Suicide Prevention Middlesex-London and periodically speaking about suicide prevention and mental illness stigma.
The people in my life see me and know me for who I am today. I cannot undo my past, but I can live by example and continue to be the best man I can be.”
ARE STRONG MAYOR POWERS NEEDED IN ST. THOMAS?
The province is proposing to expand strong mayor powers to the heads of councils in another 169 municipalities.
This would include St. Thomas, Aylmer, the Municipality of Central Elgin and the Township of Malahide.
The intent is to streamline local governance and help ensure municipalities have the necessary tools to reduce obstacles hindering new housing and infrastructure development.Rob Flack, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing in a media release stressed, “Heads of Council are key partners in our efforts to build homes and infrastructure across the province.
“By extending strong mayor powers to these additional municipalities, we are providing mayors every tool at our disposal to empower them to get homes and infrastructure built faster. Mayors know their municipalities best, and we support them in taking bold actions for their communities.”
We spoke with St. Thomas Mayor Joe Preston about the strong mayor powers and whether he felt he would ever have to resort to them.
“When the electorate sent us there with certain messages, they wanted us to pay attention to, whether it was dealing with homeless crises or housing crises, we all knew we were sent there to do that.”
“Well, I certainly would never hope to use the strong mayor powers. We have a council that gets stuff done because it agrees with the direction of the city, and look at the big things we’ve been able to do with this council.
“I hate to even talk about strong mayor powers in the group with them. I expect if this council doesn’t agree on doing it, it wasn’t working in the first place.
“So I get the thought, and I certainly know of some other councils across the province, perhaps, where this needs to happen in order to move big ideas forward. But I already have a council that knows what a big idea looks like and finds a way for us to get it done.”
Preston continued, “I get it. In this time of crisis on housing, in this time of crisis on other things, I can see why the province wants to give it, so that it wasn’t something that was causing us not to be able to fix housing crises, that I get it. But I think we work on it by working together rather than by separating powers.
“And I agree, and that’s kind of what elections are for. When the electorate sent us there with certain messages, they wanted us to pay attention to, whether it was dealing with homeless crises or housing crises, we all knew we were sent there to do that.
“If someone sat at that table and chose not to participate, then they would be part of that issue. But we’ve heard the people, we think that’s a better way to go, and we certainly can fine-tune it by our discussions at the council table, not with anyone having special powers.”
Strong mayor powers and duties include:
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Choosing to appoint the municipality’s chief administrative officer.
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Hiring certain municipal department heads and establishing and reorganizing departments.
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Creating committees of council, assigning their functions and appointing the chairs and vice-chairs of committees of council.
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Proposing the municipal budget, which would be subject to council amendments and a separate head of council veto and council override process.
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Proposing certain municipal by-laws if the mayor is of the opinion that the proposed by-law could potentially advance a provincial priority identified in regulation. Council can pass these by-laws if more than one-third of all council members vote in favour.
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Vetoing certain by-laws if the head of council is of the opinion that all or part of the by-law could potentially interfere with a provincial priority.
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Bringing forward matters for council consideration if the head of council is of the opinion that considering the matter could potentially advance a provincial priority.
The new strong mayor powers would be effective May 1.
THE ECHO CHAMBER
A very agitated Kevin Smith pulled no punches in his reaction to our item last week on Karen Vecchio declining to endorse Conservative Party of Canada candidate Andrew Lawton in this month’s federal election.
“It would appear that Karen Vecchio has flipped her support to the Liberal candidate in the riding.
“Karen supported former Liberal Quebec Premier Jean Charest in the Conservative leadership race instead of Poilievre. By the way, Charest is a WEF leader (World Economic Forum), more on that later.
“Vecchio touts her ability to work across party lines. Hell, she’s even using exactly the same wording as the Liberal candidate Goodwin. Now that’s coordination of message. (2nd thread below). True liberals sticking together.
“But we don’t need any more of the Liberal created problems of inflation, homelessness, drug addiction, crime, wasteful spending, debt and illegal immigration. We need to put Canadians first! Working with the Liberals as Karen has done many times, is killing our country.
“I’m going to suggest that Karen is bitter because her liberal WEF-friendly Jean Charest lost in the leadership race. On top of that, she got demoted from chairing the committee on the Status of Women, likely because Poilievre wanted to remove suspected WEF-friendly liberals within the party.
“Plus her candidate for the riding lost to Andrew Lawton as some PPC (People’s Party of Canada) members joined the party to vote for him because their views aligned with Poilievre and Lawton and NOT her views that align with the Liberals, who are part of the World Economic Forum.
“Volkswagen happens to be a WEF partner, which made over $60 billion in gross profit in 2023. Surprise, surprise, Karen supports this project in which the Liberals gave $13 billion to Volkswagen even though the company didn’t need the money. On top of this, several battery plants are closing as nobody wants to buy expensive electric vehicles. A poor investment indeed, or perhaps a redistribution of our wealth to a WEF partner?
“So in conclusion, Karen, you’re more than welcome to eat ze bugs and to own nothing, the rest of us are tired of the globalists whose allegiance is with the WEF. We, on the other hand, want to put Canada first.”
On a less conspiratorial note, Susanne Marie contributed the following.
“Karen was well liked and respected in her Elgin-Middlesex-London riding. But let’s face it, Karen is a moderate conservative who serves all voters, and that’s no longer welcome in the “New” Conservative Party.
“We all know she did not support Poilievre in the 2022 leadership race. It is obvious that Poilievre’s team subsequently retaliated against her in favour of a more alt-right candidate that would support the new CPC policy declaration, which strongly aligns with Trump’s ideologies. Lawton’s nomination process was riddled with controversy. He was parachuted in using less than honourable practices.”
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And a reminder, I can be heard weekday afternoons as news anchor and reporter on 94.1 myFM in St. Thomas. As always, your comments and input are appreciated.
