The Ontario NDP plans to try and remove the chair of the legislature’s justice committee from her role after she was booted out of the government caucus for meeting with an English far-right leader.
NDP MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam is set to table a motion at Wednesday’s standing committee on justice policy to remove Ottawa Carleton MPP Goldie Ghamari from her role as its chair.
Ghamari was thrown out of the Progressive Conservative Party caucus at the end of June after she met with far-right English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson.
After backlash from the National Council of Canadian Muslims and the NDP, Ghamari said she was “not aware” of Robinson’s history — which included accusations of Islamophobia and several criminal convictions in the United Kingdom — and said she had met him to discuss the governing regime in Iran.
At the time, Ghamari also reiterated her opposition to Islamophobia and antisemitism in a statement.
Days later, however, Doug Ford‘s office announced Ghamari had been removed from caucus for what the premier referred to as “repeated instances of serious lapses in judgement.”
“While this decision did not come easily, it has become clear that MPP Ghamari can no longer continue in her role within our caucus,” the statement said.
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Now, the NDP is planning to push for Ghamari to be removed from her leadership role on the justice committee, which deals with ministries including the attorney general, Indigenous affairs and the solicitor general.
The motion will be tabled at the start of the committee session on Wednesday morning, Global News understands.
In a statement, Ghamari said other now-independent MPPs who had been ordered out of the government caucus had ultimately seen their committee roles removed and accused the NDP of impatience in search of political point scoring.
“Every PC MPP who has been removed from caucus was also removed from their role as committee chair, if they had that role, by a government motion at the first opportunity,” Ghamari said in a statement to Global News.
She accused the NDP of playing politics by pushing for the move to take place on Wednesday.
“They have no idea what Ontarians actually care about, and they are focusing on me to try and create a wedge issue that doesn’t exist,” Ghamari’s statement read.
The justice committee will begin meeting at 10 a.m. on Wednesday to study intimate partner violence.
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