Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Hastings-Lennox and Addington MP Derek Sloan says he will remain as an independent until the next election following his ejection from the Conservative Party of Canada.
Sloan posted a video to Facebook Live a few hours after his former Conservative MP colleagues voted him out of the party.
“They have voted and I am no longer a member of the Conservative Party of Canada,” Sloan said in the video. “They kicked me out. They came on, they voted, and I’m out. It shows an absolute cowardice and an absolute failure to address the real issues that animates much of our base. “
CPC leader Erin O’Toole began the process of removing Sloan, who is 15 months into his first term as an MP, on Monday after it was revealed a well-known white nationalist donated to Sloan’s leadership campaign last August. Sloan was among four candidates vying to replace outgoing leader Andrew Scheer last summer. Sloan ultimately placed fourth in the ranked-ballot election. Sloan has maintained he didn’t review where donations came from that were made to his campaign, particularly the one in question that was a sum of $131. He also says all donations were processed by the CPC and they saw no issue with the donation at the time.
“The Conservative caucus voted to remove Derek Sloan not because of one specific event, but because of a pattern of destructive behaviour involving multiple incidents and disrespect towards the Conservative team for over a year,” O’Toole said in a statement. “These actions have been a consistent distraction from our efforts to grow the party and focus on the work we need to do. Events of the past week were simply the last straw and led to our caucus making the decision it made (on Wednesday).”
Sloan has been at the forefront of several controversies over his first 15 months in office. In a video released in April he questioned whether Canada’s chief public officer of health Dr. Teresa Tam was working for Canada or for China in her response to the COVID-19 pandemic. When called on by his fellow Conservatives to apologize, Sloan stated the question was rhetorical and offered no apology. In June he once again made headlines when he accused the Liberals of “effectively putting into law child abuse” for their efforts to ban conversion therapy. In December Sloan was again in the national news when he sponsored an e-petition that claimed the COVID-19 vaccine was ‘effectively human experimentation.’
“It turned into Derek, we don’t like the way you operate,” Sloan said of the meeting among Conservative MPs that ultimately led to his expulsion from the party. “You don’t play as a team. You don’t do this. Listen. We have a country that’s falling apart and they want to just play Ottawa Nice Guy politics. That’s what got us here in the first place. I didn’t go to Ottawa to play Mr. Nice Guy. I went to Ottawa to make a difference. Anybody who tries to make a difference, whether it’s provincially or nationally, gets booted out. The party system is ridiculous. Nobody there can say anything. They can’t say a darn thing without getting in trouble and getting booted out of their own parties. Look what happened to Jody-Wilson Raybould, Jane Philpott and now myself. These people don’t know what’s coming. I’m the only one now with any ability to be able to say anything and they have no idea what’s coming next. This is the worst mistake they’ve ever made and they will regret this, I’m positive of it.”
Sloan revealed a list of things he intends to fight for as an independent MP.
“I will stay and fight for all the values that we share,” Sloan said. “Against big tech censorship. Against the gender identity theories and the other types of things that I’ve been talking about before, Bill C-6 (the bill to ban conversion therapy). For pro-life values. Freedom from government over reach with the lockdowns and the excessive over reach that we’re seeing. Religious freedom. Opposition to Bill C-6. Opposition to Bill C-12, the Net Zero (Emissions Accountability Act) Bill that Erin O’Toole has said that our party is going to vote for. Net Zero is code for zero jobs in Alberta. I’m disgusted by that, I was going to vote against it anyway and I hope my former caucus colleagues join me.”
Sloan told his supporters who have signed up for delegations at the upcoming Conservative convention in March to keep their slot.
“This is not about me,” Sloan said of being kicked out of the party. “This is about all of you. When they have ejected me from the party, they are saying we despise you. We despise your values, we despise the things that are important to you. Let the fury rain down.”
Sloan went on to accuse O’Toole of being a Red Tory, rather than the Blue Tory he portrayed himself as being during the leadership election.
“This is our party, we will take it back and these guys will pay a significant price,” Sloan added.