Paul Fromm running for mayor in Hamilton
Admitted white nationalist moved to the city
A self-proclaimed white nationalist has tossed his hat in the ring to run for mayor of Hamilton in the upcoming municipal election.
Paul Fromm, director of the Canadian Association for Free Expression (CAFE) and the Canada First Immigration Reform Committee, said he filed his papers Friday after moving to the city about six months ago.
According to its website, CAFE is “dedicated to free speech, immigration reform and restoring political sanity.”
After having lived in Mississauga for many years, the 69year-old said he recently bought a house on the Hamilton Mountain because it “was really a time for change.” In the past, he has entered the Mississauga mayoral race.
The 2018 candidates guide for Ontario municipal council and school board elections states those looking to run for a position on council must be eligible to vote in that municipality.
When asked why he is running for mayor in Hamilton, Fromm said: “I have a real concern about traffic gridlock.”
“It’s slowly just choking the whole Golden Horseshoe,” he added in the phone interview. “It’s making the place almost unlivable.”
He said he has also noticed how poverty affects Hamilton.
“You don’t have to walk very far on King Street in the downtown area to see people are very needy,” Fromm said. “I think we should be putting our focus on them rather than posturing as a sanctuary city.”
Hamilton was dubbed a sanctuary city in February 2014 following a council vote. The declaration meant the city would provide refugees with services like emergency shelters, recreation and public transit without asking questions about their status.
Fromm made headlines earlier this year when he endorsed social conservative Tanya Granic Allen’s campaign to be leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives.
Fromm was stripped of his Ontario teaching licence in 2007 for unprofessional conduct outside the classroom because he embraced views and beliefs contrary to multiculturalism and tolerance and participated in white supremacist groups and events. He previously supported Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel, who was deported to Germany in 2005 after a Canadian judge deemed him a security threat.