The Royal Canadian Legion in Innisfail is defending itself after it kicked out a mayoral candidate’s planned forum that was to include a speech from a controversial Alberta doctor who has spoken out against the province’s COVID-19 crackdowns..Glen Carritt had planned the legion rally to include Dr. Roger Hodkinson, one of the province’s top pathologists, who claimed COVID-19 is nothing but a bad flu..The other guest was to have been Marcel Latouche, the head of the Institute for Public Sector Accountability, who has been outspoken and constructively critical of Canadian government institutions on all levels for years. . Innisfail legion under fire for not allowing ‘anti-government’ speakersDr. Roger Hodkinson. Courtesy YouTube .Carritt said in a video on his Facebook page legion officials told him his guest speakers were “anti-government and anti-establishment.”.He said the decision was ironic considering the fact Canadian soldiers fought to maintain free speech during world wars..“I am not very happy with the legion. This to me is very disturbing,” said Carritt in his video..“You as a Legion are taking that away from a mayoral candidate, and I am being discriminated by the Legion for not being able to have my voice and my speakers’ voices to move forward..“I want an apology for you trying to take my voice away, and I am fine if you can admit that. But what you did in my opinion was wrong to discriminate against my voice. It doesn’t make sense to me. I am very hurt by the decision they made and very disappointed.”. Screen-Shot-2021-08-10-at-9.40.51-AMInnisfail Royal Canadian Legion .But Legion officials defended their actions saying they received several complaints about the planned event..“He had booked it under the pretense it was part of his mayoral platform. No big deal. We are totally all about that. No big deal. That’s cool. We are helping him out and then we started getting complaints,” Chris Pickard told MountainView Today..“Turns out he had two keynote speakers coming in (August 16), and it didn’t seem to have anything to do with his mayoral platform. It’s more of an anti-vax, anti-government sort of you know, angry rally, at which point, we had to look at ‘does that contravene our bylaws?”.Pickard said after a discussion with the provincial command, the call was made to cancel the event..“It has always been made very clear that we do not support anything that is anti-government, anti-establishment,” he said..“We fully support our community, our government, the established order. That is what the Legion is about.”.Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.,dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/nobby7694
The Royal Canadian Legion in Innisfail is defending itself after it kicked out a mayoral candidate’s planned forum that was to include a speech from a controversial Alberta doctor who has spoken out against the province’s COVID-19 crackdowns..Glen Carritt had planned the legion rally to include Dr. Roger Hodkinson, one of the province’s top pathologists, who claimed COVID-19 is nothing but a bad flu..The other guest was to have been Marcel Latouche, the head of the Institute for Public Sector Accountability, who has been outspoken and constructively critical of Canadian government institutions on all levels for years. . Innisfail legion under fire for not allowing ‘anti-government’ speakersDr. Roger Hodkinson. Courtesy YouTube .Carritt said in a video on his Facebook page legion officials told him his guest speakers were “anti-government and anti-establishment.”.He said the decision was ironic considering the fact Canadian soldiers fought to maintain free speech during world wars..“I am not very happy with the legion. This to me is very disturbing,” said Carritt in his video..“You as a Legion are taking that away from a mayoral candidate, and I am being discriminated by the Legion for not being able to have my voice and my speakers’ voices to move forward..“I want an apology for you trying to take my voice away, and I am fine if you can admit that. But what you did in my opinion was wrong to discriminate against my voice. It doesn’t make sense to me. I am very hurt by the decision they made and very disappointed.”. Screen-Shot-2021-08-10-at-9.40.51-AMInnisfail Royal Canadian Legion .But Legion officials defended their actions saying they received several complaints about the planned event..“He had booked it under the pretense it was part of his mayoral platform. No big deal. We are totally all about that. No big deal. That’s cool. We are helping him out and then we started getting complaints,” Chris Pickard told MountainView Today..“Turns out he had two keynote speakers coming in (August 16), and it didn’t seem to have anything to do with his mayoral platform. It’s more of an anti-vax, anti-government sort of you know, angry rally, at which point, we had to look at ‘does that contravene our bylaws?”.Pickard said after a discussion with the provincial command, the call was made to cancel the event..“It has always been made very clear that we do not support anything that is anti-government, anti-establishment,” he said..“We fully support our community, our government, the established order. That is what the Legion is about.”.Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.,dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/nobby7694