Ford PCs pressed to distance from McVety
Evangelist trying to get government to upgrade college to a university
Pressure is mounting on Progressive Conservatives to distance themselves from Premier Doug Ford’s controversial evangelist friend Charles McVety.
McVety — who has been accused of intolerance toward gays, lesbians, transgender people and Muslims — is currently trying to get the provincial government to upgrade his Canada Christian College to a university.
“Each day brings more and more serious questions about this government’s decision to give the premier’s long-time ally and unapologetic bigot Charles McVety the right to grant university degrees at his Canada Christian College,” said NDP MPP Laura Mae Lindo.
On Thursday, the Kitchener Centre MPP revealed that Ford’s 2018 Tory leadership campaign secured space at the college for a week, but no payment was reported to Elections Ontario.
“During the 2018 PC Party leadership race, the premier used Mr. McVety’s college boardrooms to get people to vote for him,” Lindo told the legislature.
“This isn’t just a sign of the cosy relationship between the premier and Mr. McVety, it’s a violation of elections law and charitable tax law,” she said.
“I have written to Elections Ontario to investigate why the premier’s financial returns have no payments to Mr. McVety’s college, and I’ve asked Revenue Canada to review why Charles McVety’s college, a registered charity, didn’t report this political activity.”
Colleges and Universities Minister Ross Romano ducked the questions about Ford’s campaign, instead emphasizing that the arm’s-length Post-secondary Education Quality Assessment Board (PEQAB) would determine whether the college is qualified to become a university.
“Any individual, any institution, is allowed to apply for a licence or a designation of this nature. Anyone can. They apply directly to an independent body. That independent body is called PEQAB,” Romano said. As grim-faced Tory MPPs stared at the floor in silence, former Liberal premier Kathleen Wynne implored Ford “to disavow the vile Islamophobic opinions and remarks of Charles McVety” and scrap enabling legislation that would make it easier for the college to become a university.
“I am not talking about the PEQAB process,” thundered Wynne. “I am talking about the legislation that has been brought in by this government that, in fact, protects a bigot. Charles McVety is a homophobe, he’s a transphobe and he’s an Islamophobe.”
Romano insisted “there is absolutely no place in the province of Ontario for Islamophobia, homophobia, hatred, racism, discrimination of any kind.
“But what’s imperative is that we stand as leaders to stand by the rule of law, the rules that require fairness, the rules that require procedural safeguards in every process,” the minister said.
“You cannot interfere with any individual putting forward an application. It goes to an independent body, it’s reviewed, and it’s in a transparent process here in this house.”
McVety has complained that “the NDP hates Christians and believes that we are secondclass citizens who should be shunned from society.”
As reported by the Star’s Martin Regg Cohn last month, some Tory MPPs privately opposed the legislative change, buried in an omnibus bill, to help the college.
But so far none of them have spoken out publicly about their concerns.