Bylsma, councillor, join caucus of End the Lockdown
Christian group calls for end of COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns
Two Niagara politicians — including a mayor and who has pushed false claims about the pandemic — have joined a nascent national group calling for an end to all COVID-19 lockdowns.
West Lincoln Mayor Dave Bylsma, who wants Niagara’s public health department to promote drinking juice as a measure to fight COVID-19, and town Coun. Harold Jonker have joined Liberty Coalition Canada.
Operating as a Christian political group, it is led by Kingston independent MPP Randy Hillier, who has pushed several false claims about the pandemic, including that COVID-19 is the same as the common cold and that the testing method for the virus is grossly inaccurate, and who has held public gatherings in defiance of provincial lockdown measures.
Among the more prominent members of the group is former federal Tory MP Maxime Bernier, leader of the fringe People’s Party of Canada, who travelled to Florida on vacation in November, and another former Conservative, Derek Sloan, who was recently booted from the party when it was revealed he took campaign donations from a neo-nazi.
Among the coalition and calling themselves the “End the Lockdown National Caucus,” they call for the end of all lockdowns and the “reopening our businesses, schools, places of worship, recreational facilities, along with the full resumption and expansion of efficient medical services.”
Bylsma, who has openly supported antimask groups, would not discuss why he joined the group, nor Hillier’s history of spreading misinformation about the pandemic.
“I’m always interested in receiving information. In this health crisis I think it wise to get a second opinion,” Bylsma wrote in a text message in response to an interview request from the St. Catharines Standard. “No interview. That’s my quote.”
There are no members of the antilockdown group with scientific expertise on public health measures or COVID-19.
Bylsma did not answer followup questions about whether he supports Hillier’s views, or if the residents of West Lincoln support his joining of the group.
Along with support- ing the Hugs Over
Masks antimask group
— one which made false claims about the pandemic and masks — Bylsma also pushed for unscientific ideas to be included in the public health department’s COVID-19 safety messaging.
Along with Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati, Bylsma wanted what he called “mom advice” — drinking juice and wearing a tuque — to be part of the recommendations by the health department to limit the spread of the potentially deadly virus. Neither can limit the spread of the virus or treat an infection.
When reached by the Standard Monday, Jonker said he was not concerned with Hillier’s history of spreading COVID-19 misinformation.
“If he has made a mistake, and I say if, then it should be debated as a government,” said Jonker, who claims public health measures and lockdowns to fight the pandemic are “unconstitutional,” although he provided no evidence to support that claim.
Jonker, who like Bylsma is a former Christian Heritage Party candidate, said more should have been done to “lock down” long-term-care homes “from the start” including “better testing of nurses,” and that “the healthy people” should not have faced any restrictions.
Along with the anti-lockdown political group, Liberty Coalition Canada is also calling for all in-person worship to be resumed in all churches regardless of what the science says.
“Simply put, public worship is a nonnegotiable principle,” says the coalition’s declaration to open all churches.