Article content
People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier made a late election stop in Calgary Saturday, where he spoke at a rally that attracted more than 1,000 attendees, many carrying anti-mask and anti-vaccine signs.
Advertisement
Article content
The event, at Central Memorial Park in Calgary’s Beltline, comes only days after Alberta declared a state of public health emergency as a fourth wave of COVID-19 spread threatens to overwhelm the province’s ICUs.
Though an MC said the event — dubbed the “Worldwide Freedom Rally” — was non-political, both Bernier and former Conservative MP Derek Sloan attended and gave stump speeches with two days left before Canadians are set to vote in the federal election.
“(There’s) a real freedom revolution in this country, because we know when tyranny becomes law, revolution becomes our duty,” Bernier said, echoing a phrase used by far-right militia group the Three Percenters.
“After this election, that will be a new beginning. That won’t be the end, and I will be with you in the street to protest and fight, fight for our freedoms.”
Advertisement
Article content
A Saturday Leger poll found six per cent of decided voters across Canada intend to cast their ballot for the PPC; that number is the same for decided Alberta voters.
The party is running a candidate in 33 of Alberta’s 34 federal ridings — the only riding without a PPC candidate is Calgary Centre, where Saturday’s rally was held.
Both Bernier and Sloan are former Conservative Party of Canada MPs who have recently run for leadership of the party — Bernier in 2017, and Sloan in 2020. Bernier left the CPC in 2018 to create the PPC, while Sloan was expelled from the party early this year after it was revealed he received a campaign donation from a white supremacist.
Sloan is now running as an independent in the riding of Banff-Airdrie. Speaking at the rally, he criticized vaccine passports and suggested Alberta should address its ICU capacity crunch through the use of alternative therapies; earlier in the rally, a woman who identified herself as a nurse recommended treating COVID-19 with ivermectin, a horse-dewormer drug which has not been authorized for use against the virus.
Advertisement
Article content
“This is not about science, this is not about logic, this is not about governance. Something bigger is going on,” Sloan said. “There’s a spiritual battle on now for the heart and soul of Canada.”
Some attendees at the rally raised signs reading, “We are pure bloods,” “Say no to vax poison” and “I’d rather die by God’s hand than any experimental drug.”
Alberta imposed a series of public-health orders last week in a bid to slow transmission of the novel coronavirus, but there are no attendance restrictions on public outdoor events. Albertans are, however, mandated to adhere to two-metre physical distancing, which was not seen at the Saturday rally.
Calgary police said the event appeared to go off without incident and a spokesperson said they were not aware of any arrests made. Alberta Health Services said public-health violations it receives are investigated by public-health inspectors as warranted.
“We encourage everyone to follow the new public health guidelines to help protect the health care system and stop the spread of COVID-19,” AHS said in a statement.
As of Friday, Alberta ICUs were caring for 260 patients, putting them at 150 per cent of normal capacity.
Twitter: @jasonfherring
Maxime Bernier speaks at anti-vax Calgary 'freedom rally' attended by more than 1,000 - Calgary Herald
Read More
No comments:
Post a Comment