Suspension caused by clashes with Ford staff, Hillier says

An MPP suspended indefinitely from the Progressive Conservative caucus last month says he was removed for clashing with some of the premier’s most senior advisers.

In a letter to party members in his eastern Ontario riding, Randy Hillier claims he wasn’t suspended for comments he made in the legislature, as Premier Doug Ford has said, but due to long-standing tensions with two of Ford’s senior advisers. Hillier, a veteran Tory legislator known for being outspoken, says he challenged the justification for his suspension and was given a list of what he called “questionable and childish grievances” by backroom operatives.

Among them, he alleges, were complaints that he didn’t clap enough in the House and wasn’t actively sharing posts about the government’s activities on social media.

Ford has said Hillier was suspended for comments he made as parents of children with autism packed the legislature’s galleries in protest of the government’s recent funding changes.

Ford was asked Wednesday whether he wanted Hillier out of caucus.

“I can’t say I want him out but I think we need a little time to run through a few things with Randy,” he said.

Ford was not asked about the allegations in Hillier’s letter. A spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday evening.