‘Lawton was kind of taking direction’: Conservative candidate’s Freedom Convoy ties detailed in report

A new report shows Conservative candidate Andrew Lawton was in a group chat with Freedom Convoy leaders. CTV London's Bryan Bicknell reports.

A Conservative candidate in the London region is coming under fire.

This follows a media report which details Andrew Lawton’s former ties with the Freedom Convoy, which occupied downtown Ottawa in 2022.

Lawton is running for the seat in the new riding of Elgin-St. Thomas-London South. The published report shows Lawton was an active member in a group chat involving many high profile convoy members.

Published Friday in Press Progress, the story reveals Lawton was a member of what’s described as a clandestine group chat used to coordinate messaging on social media.

As reported, the group chat on Signal, an encrypted messaging app, is called Canada Freedom Rights Movement. It includes more than 50 names associated with the Freedom Convoy and the Canadian Far Right.

“What I think is interesting and new here is it shows a certain level of connection between Andrew Lawton and the leadership of the Freedom Convoy,” said Press Progress editor Luke LeBrun, who penned the article.

LeBrun said Lawton was actively involved.

“Andrew Lawton was kind of taking direction from some of the convoy lawyers. And based on some of the messaging that they gave him and some of the suggestions that they gave him, that material ended up online, which is very interesting. It’s also problematic I would say because if you look at some of the other members of this group, you have people who are, in some cases self-identified white nationalists, people who have made very antisemitic comments, another person who was sharing neo-Nazi propaganda videos,” LeBrun explained.

A right-wing alt-media personality, and the former managing editor of digital media platform True North, Lawton is no stranger to controversy.

In 2018, he ran unsuccessfully under Doug Ford’s PC banner in the provincial riding of London West. The campaign was derailed when his history of extreme positions on issues like abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, and Islamophobia came to light. He later attributed the behaviour to his struggles with mental illness.

Lawton won the Conservative nod for Elgin-St. Thomas-London South last November, in what some in the party’s electoral district association complained was a hurried nomination process.

Earlier in 2024, Lawton’s biography of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was published.

One of Lawton’s political opponent’s, Elgin-St. Thomas-London South Liberal Candidate David Goodwin, said he’s disappointed in Lawton.

“It shows a clear lack of judgement and character on behalf of Andrew Lawton. Once again, he has put his ideology above community. And this is really one of the fundamental reasons why I ran in this again. And I clearly, once again, don’t believe that Andrew Lawton represents the values of my riding,” said Goodwin.

Lawton declined our request for an interview. A campaign spokesperson issued the following statement:

“As a journalist, Mr. Lawton regularly communicated with a variety of sources for his reporting on the Public Order Emergency Commission. He authored the only journalistic account of the Freedom Convoy, which was cited in evidence by the Commission itself as a factual account of the protests. He left the group after the commission hearings ended."

— Andrew Lawton campaign spokesperson