Nunavut senator Dennis Patterson quits Conservative caucus: ‘This country is divided’
Global News
Nunavut Conservative Sen. Dennis Patterson has denounced the ongoing demonstrations in Ottawa and called on Conservative MPs and Senate caucus members to speak up.
Nunavut Conservative Sen. Dennis Patterson says he has left the Conservative caucus after not seeing some of his colleagues condemn the ongoing protests in Ottawa against COVID-19 health mandates.
He also said that when Erin O’Toole was ousted as Conservative Party leader last week, he didn’t feel confident that a future leader might support a “more centralized, progressive, solutions-oriented approach.”
“This is the Conservative Party, which has been known as the party of law and order, and I’m very upset with the lawlessness and the desecration of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the hateful, repugnant symbols (like the Nazi swastikas) being used and I’m disappointed that this has not been called out,” said Patterson.
The trucker convoy blockading the downtown core of the nation’s capital has been billed by many attendees as a “peaceful” protest against public health measures currently in place to fight COVID-19.
Some organizers of the convoy, however, have well-documented ties to white supremacists and there were multiple instances of Nazi flags, Confederate flags and Canadian flags marred by swastikas being waved by individuals in the crowd last week.
“The country is divided,” said Patterson. “It’s obvious to me that there are very strong voices in the general public supportive of vaccine mandates as well as probably 90 per cent of truckers, so there are strong voices in the general public.”
However, he said that he hopes more voices among the Conservative MPs and Senate caucus “wake up.”
“They need to speak out more and help bring us back to the centre road that frankly is the only path to power for us.”