Sarnia’s Mayor Bradley says he will not heed calls to stop controversial NDP-wannabe from appearing at local arena

Sarnia's mayor is rejecting calls to cancel a political hopeful's appearance at a city arena. CTV London’s Bryan Bicknell explains.

Activist turned political hopeful Yves Engler says he’s being wrongly accused of being a racist because of his views on Israel’s war in Gaza.

“The people opposing apartheid have been flipped upside down to be the racists. When in fact of course it’s been those who have been promoting apartheid and genocide that are the racists,” he told CTV News in an interview Monday.

Engler wants to be the leader of the federal NDP. Supporters have booked him to speak in a rented room at Sarnia’s Clearwater Arena Tuesday night.

But, the planned appearance is not sitting well with Jewish advocacy groups.

The Canadian Antisemitism Education Campaign has written to Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley and the rest of city council, condemning the planned appearance.

“Mr. Engler is a notorious antisemite, and the City of Sarnia has no business renting out space to platform his hatred of Jews,” the letter stated.

“If you let this meeting proceed, it will get very awkward. I’m pretty good at Freedom of Information requests.”

The letter was signed by R. Michael Teper, the President of CAEF.

Teper told CTV News the appearance should be stopped.

“Mr. Engler has a long-standing track record of not just anti-Israel agitation, but antisemitic remarks. He’s very fond of using the term ‘genocidal Jewish supremacist,’” Teper commented.

“I think that he is unfit to be hosted by a public institution such as the City of Sarnia.”

Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley said he and council have nothing to do with renting out public spaces, and he can’t prevent someone from booking a room at a city facility.

“We’re not in the censorship business of who speaks. In this case it looks like a fringe candidate for the NDP leadership. So far, I have not seen anything to indicate that this would be a way to ban that person from renting a public hall for a public gathering,” Bradley said.

Engler is also scheduled to appear in London on Wednesday night, but in this case it’s at this private venue, as opposed to a public building. The event is being hosted by the London branch of the activist group, People for Peace.

Neither event is sanctioned by the NDP.

According to London Centre NDP Riding President Matt Nicolaidis, Engler as no formal association with the NDP.

“Within NDP spaces he has declared himself an NDP candidate, he has put out literature declaring himself an NDP candidate. But as far as the party recognizes, he has no official standing at this time,” said Nicolaidis.

In the meantime, Engler told CTV News he filed papers with the NDP Monday morning to be vetted for candidacy – his first step in his bid to join the race.