OTTAWA -- A community within Tory MP Derek Sloan’s Ontario riding is calling on Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer to denounce his colleague’s "cruel" and "racist" remarks about Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam and, if necessary, expel him from the party.
In a letter penned to Scheer, Warden Rick Phillips and Chief Administrative Officer Jim Pine of Hastings County -- which represents more than half of Sloan’s constituents -- says Scheer must show Sloan’s views aren’t reflective of his entire caucus.
"MP Sloan’s comments were cruel, racist and completely unbecoming of a Member of Parliament. Dr. Tam is a great Canadian and has played an integral leadership role in our nation’s fight against COVID-19," reads the letter obtained by CTV News.
"You must use all of the tools at your disposal to show Canadians Mr. Sloan’s racist comments are not representative of your Party views. If this means expelling him from the Conservative Party, so be it."
In a video released earlier this week, the rookie MP and leadership candidate called for Dr. Tam to be fired. He also sent an email to supporters questioning "does she work for Canada or China" in leading the country’s response to the pandemic.
In the video posted to Facebook and Twitter, Sloan criticized the Liberal government for its response to the pandemic and for its reliance on advice from Dr. Tam and the World Health Organization, saying the WHO parroted Chinese misinformation.
"Theresa Tam followed the World Health Organization every step along the way. She accused Canadians who were concerned about this virus initially for being racist, she also suggested that travel bans were unnecessary and as late as January 14 she suggested that human-to-human transmissions of the coronavirus was not happening when very credible evidence suggested that it was," said Sloan.
Scheer dodged questions about his colleague’s statements earlier in the day and whether he supports his position.
"So as a rule I don't comment on leadership candidates or on policy announcements or positions of leadership candidates have taken. I'll leave it to each leadership candidate to speak for themselves and explain their views," said Scheer.
He then turned the focus to the leadership of Trudeau and his cabinet through the pandemic and said questions need to be asked about why they chose to "ignore warnings" from Canadian authorities of the severity of the virus.
Scheer has also been critical of Canada’s refusal to condemn China, amid mounting concerns the country concealed information about the spread of COVID-19 within its borders.
"Why were they so reliant on information that was coming out of the WHO, instead of listening to domestic Canadian voices who were advising this government to take this threat much more seriously much earlier on? That is a choice this government made, and we will hold the government accountable, we will hold ministers and the prime minister accountable for their decisions," he said.
Also pressed about Sloan’s comments, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday "intolerance and racism" have no place in Canada.
"Millions of Canadians of all different backgrounds who are working together—many, many of them on the front lines to help their fellow Canadians—deserve better than this."
Dr. Tam—who was born in Hong Kong— briefly responded to the remarks, stressing that her focus is directed squarely at controlling the spread of COVID-19 in Canada.
"I’m a pretty focused person and I work really, really hard probably over 20 hours a day. My singular focus is to work with all of my colleagues to get this epidemic wave under control. I don’t let noise sort of detract me from that," said Tam.
While Scheer was reluctant to comment, fellow Conservative MP Eric Duncan made his views known on Twitter stating that while he may have questions about Dr. Tam’s direction, has never questioned "her loyalty to Canada & best interests of Canadians at heart."
This comes after another report of anti-Asian racism in Vancouver in March when an elderly Asian man with "severe dementia" was shouted at and shoved by another customer. According to the Vancouver police, some of the comments were related to COVID-19.
There were 11 hate crimes reported in Vancouver last month, five of which, police say, "had an anti-Asian element."
With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Kendra Mangione
