MPS meet soldier charged for vax criticisms
OTTAWA • A Canadian soldier charged for speaking out against COVID-19 vaccine requirements was warmly welcomed on Wednesday to Parliament Hill, where Conservative MPS posed with him for pictures before sitting through a lecture on the purported dangers of inoculations.
The show of support for James Topp came more than a month after the reservist warrant officer was charged with two counts of conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline for comments made while wearing his uniform in February.
It also came as the Afghanistan war veteran and his supporters prepare to finish a four-month march from Vancouver to the National War Memorial in Ottawa that started in February during the height of the Freedom Convoy.
Their planned arrival on June 30 has stoked fears of another round of anti-vaccine and anti-government protests, which snarled the capital for weeks until police used force to end what they and the government described as an illegal occupation.
Such misgivings did not keep one group of Conservative MPS from shaking hands, posing for pictures and expressing their support for Topp during a meeting on Parliament Hill that was streamed online.
Among them were leadership candidate Leslyn Lewis as well as Dean Allison, Ryan Williams and Alex Ruff.
Topp was driven to Ottawa to meet with MPS on Wednesday and was expected to return to the area around Deep River, Ont., to continue his march to the capital in the coming days.
Appearing alongside him was Tom Marazzo, one of the spokesmen of the Freedom Convoy, and Paul Alexander, a former adviser to U.S. president Donald Trump.
Topp told the MPS that he was marching in part to get all vaccine mandates repealed, as well as the reinstatement of anyone who lost their job because of such a requirement and compensation for wages lost.
At the same time, he said his march was about much more than vaccine requirements, which were lifted for most federal civil servants this week but remain in place for members of the Canadian Armed Forces.
“One of the things that has jumped out at me since I've started this journey is the number of folks who have come to talk to me (and) their issue is not so much with mandates anymore,” he said.
“It's their dissatisfaction with the federal government,” which they see as “intractable,” he said.