Independent MPP Randy Hillier took to social media on Thursday to announce he will not be running in the next provincial election.
Hillier’s announcement comes one week after the Ontario legislature unanimously passed a motion authorizing the speaker to prevent Hillier from participating in the chamber, for what house leader Paul Calandra called racist and discriminatory statements made about the federal transport minister, Omar Alghabra, and for social media posts that Calandra says were inciting a call to violence.
“Our political system is broken. There is no sense spending any more time trying to fix a broken system from within when the problem lies without,” Hillier said in the video.
His announcement ends his 15-year run as a representative for the region, the last two of which were marred in controversy over spreading pandemic disinformation and discriminatory statements.
“In the last few years, especially since I came out opposing the narrative that we were living in the most dangerous times of COVID, that warranted the destruction of representative democracy, warranted states of emergencies and the suspension of civil liberties, the trampling of our Charter protected rights and freedoms, I’ve been offside with public opinion,” he said.
Hillier was originally elected to the Progressive Conservative party in 2007 but was removed in 2019 by Premier Doug Ford for making disrespectful comments to parents of children with autism.
Following that, he moved to serve as an independent.
In April 2021 Hillier was charged under the reopening act with attending a gathering outside pandemic restrictions in Kemptville, Ont., and more recently, called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a terrorist over the federal government’s reaction to the “Freedom Convoy” in Ottawa.
While Hillier says he will take himself out of the provincial race, he added he will continue to be outspoken and work with political allies to shape public opinion.