Ontario council moves meetings online citing ‘growing infiltration of alt-right’
Global News
Pickering council has been engaged in a growing battle with one member of council, who the mayor has claimed is linked to alt-right figures and has disrupted repeated meetings.
A local council east of Toronto says it’s cancelling in-person sessions and moving meetings online citing “increasingly hostile threats” to its members as an internal battle around one councillor escalates.
The mayor and councillors in the City of Pickering have been engaged in a growing battle with one member of council, whom they claim is linked to alt-right figures and has repeatedly disrupted meetings.
Ward 1 Coun. Lisa Robinson has been docked nine months of pay by her colleagues over the past year after three successive integrity commissioner investigations found she had broken the code of conduct.
Robinson has denied wrongdoing, asked a judge to overrule the integrity commissioner’s findings and alleged there is a conspiracy against her led by the city’s mayor.
Now, as council prepares to hold its first meeting of the year, tensions have risen again with the release of a 13-minute video on the city’s official YouTube channel announcing the end of in-person council meetings.
“Over the past two years, the City of Pickering has witnessed a growing infiltration of alt-right individuals, ideologies and influences that have created an atmosphere of uncertainly, fear and intimidation over our council,” Mayor Kevin Ashe said in the video’s introduction.
The video tracks a series of times the town and mayor allege Robinson, who is still a sitting councillor, has been involved with alt-right figures. It references meetings and town halls she has held, as well as a controversial appearance on a far-right show where the host referred to the host referred to Robinson’s council colleagues as “pedophiles” and “Nazis.”
At the end of the video, Ashe announced official meetings will no longer take place in council chambers. Instead, they will be held through a video conferencing platform, as they were during the pandemic.
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