On the face of it, Pastor Henry Hildebrandt and his son Herbert, in Aylmer, Ontario seem the least likely people to be kicked out of the Conservative Party of Canada, but that’s exactly what happened..“Church of God. So we’re an evangelical holiness church,” the younger Hildebrandt told the Western Standard..“We’re conservative. We have a conservative lifestyle overall. Most people that attend us dress conservatively.”.Strange then, he said, that the Conservative Party of Canada would boot them out..“The party revoked both his and my membership, refused to provide reasons beyond referencing the general reasons why they can do so, ie. conduct unbecoming a member, etc. I appealed and the decision was upheld by the executive,” he said..“As soon as I filed for the delegate spot, it was only three days I think or four days and boom, I got it. I got the letter, and then my dad as well. I’m sure there’s other ones.”.Hildebrandt hosted CPC leadership contender Derek Sloan at his home for an event last summer. Although Hildebrandt wonders if being a vocal “hardcore Sloan supporter” contributed to losing his membership, he is more certain the the party wanted to avoid controversy..Tory leader Erin O’Toole has also booted Sloan from the party..“I’m sure that it’s since we’ve been involved with many of the anti lockdown activities, been very vocal on religious freedoms and how the charter is being demolished right now with these emergency orders and edicts that are seemingly have no expiry date anymore. That’s what we’re presuming. They call it conduct unbecoming a member. I’m assuming that that would be probably the reason why, because O’Toole is taking that in a totally different direction.”.Hildebrandt believes the party leader is not living up to the values he espoused in his recent leadership campaign..“The membership revocation, it’s not such a big deal for us. But we really believe firmly that it’s part and parcel of the entire cancel culture that Erin O’Toole himself spoke out against when he was running about the evils of cancel culture. And now he has embraced and perfected it in his own party to stamp out any dissent or anything that he feels like would be negative for the party in the mainstream media because he wants to be a media darling, not a leader,” he said..“It’s now as the Ontario race for leadership of the Conservative Party, something like a decade and a half ago, where they called one of the candidates ‘a pale pink imitation of the Liberals.’ And it seems like that’s kind of where we are with the federal Conservatives.”.Herbert said both he and his father bought party memberships when leaders emerged they could get behind, such as Stockwell Day, Stephen Harper, or Sloan..“[We’ve] known his father for some years,” Hildebrandt said of Sloan..“I felt like he was a real leader that would actually lead with his heart and his ethical and moral sphere that we were looking for.”.Hildebrandt, who works for an auto parts company, said the party system doesn’t lend itself well to responsive leadership..“I like what I see some of these like Randy Hillier [and] Derek are doing with the lockdown caucus. I feel like we need to be more issue-based and less partisan-based. Maybe what we need is 100 independent MPs and MPPs that don’t have to follow a party whip, but actually can vote their conscience on issues that affect the Canadian people. Because, honestly, I feel like the partisan system right now is just broken…We saw with Derek and others, you can’t actually can’t vote your conscience. You have to vote the party or you’re out, right? So, really, what’s the point of having all these MPs if they can’t even represent their constituents?”.Harding is a Western Standard contributor living in Saskatchewan
On the face of it, Pastor Henry Hildebrandt and his son Herbert, in Aylmer, Ontario seem the least likely people to be kicked out of the Conservative Party of Canada, but that’s exactly what happened..“Church of God. So we’re an evangelical holiness church,” the younger Hildebrandt told the Western Standard..“We’re conservative. We have a conservative lifestyle overall. Most people that attend us dress conservatively.”.Strange then, he said, that the Conservative Party of Canada would boot them out..“The party revoked both his and my membership, refused to provide reasons beyond referencing the general reasons why they can do so, ie. conduct unbecoming a member, etc. I appealed and the decision was upheld by the executive,” he said..“As soon as I filed for the delegate spot, it was only three days I think or four days and boom, I got it. I got the letter, and then my dad as well. I’m sure there’s other ones.”.Hildebrandt hosted CPC leadership contender Derek Sloan at his home for an event last summer. Although Hildebrandt wonders if being a vocal “hardcore Sloan supporter” contributed to losing his membership, he is more certain the the party wanted to avoid controversy..Tory leader Erin O’Toole has also booted Sloan from the party..“I’m sure that it’s since we’ve been involved with many of the anti lockdown activities, been very vocal on religious freedoms and how the charter is being demolished right now with these emergency orders and edicts that are seemingly have no expiry date anymore. That’s what we’re presuming. They call it conduct unbecoming a member. I’m assuming that that would be probably the reason why, because O’Toole is taking that in a totally different direction.”.Hildebrandt believes the party leader is not living up to the values he espoused in his recent leadership campaign..“The membership revocation, it’s not such a big deal for us. But we really believe firmly that it’s part and parcel of the entire cancel culture that Erin O’Toole himself spoke out against when he was running about the evils of cancel culture. And now he has embraced and perfected it in his own party to stamp out any dissent or anything that he feels like would be negative for the party in the mainstream media because he wants to be a media darling, not a leader,” he said..“It’s now as the Ontario race for leadership of the Conservative Party, something like a decade and a half ago, where they called one of the candidates ‘a pale pink imitation of the Liberals.’ And it seems like that’s kind of where we are with the federal Conservatives.”.Herbert said both he and his father bought party memberships when leaders emerged they could get behind, such as Stockwell Day, Stephen Harper, or Sloan..“[We’ve] known his father for some years,” Hildebrandt said of Sloan..“I felt like he was a real leader that would actually lead with his heart and his ethical and moral sphere that we were looking for.”.Hildebrandt, who works for an auto parts company, said the party system doesn’t lend itself well to responsive leadership..“I like what I see some of these like Randy Hillier [and] Derek are doing with the lockdown caucus. I feel like we need to be more issue-based and less partisan-based. Maybe what we need is 100 independent MPs and MPPs that don’t have to follow a party whip, but actually can vote their conscience on issues that affect the Canadian people. Because, honestly, I feel like the partisan system right now is just broken…We saw with Derek and others, you can’t actually can’t vote your conscience. You have to vote the party or you’re out, right? So, really, what’s the point of having all these MPs if they can’t even represent their constituents?”.Harding is a Western Standard contributor living in Saskatchewan
