OTTAWA—Pierre Poilievre may be the front-runner in the Conservative party’s leadership race. In mid-June, former Ontario MPP Roman Baber walked for 15 kilometres on the shoulder of an Ontario highway alongside James Topp, a leading figure of the anti-vaccination-mandate movement. Yet Baber claimed at the time that lockdowns weren’t working, and blamed them for an avalanche of other social problems. The move turned Baber into one of the earliest political casualties of the pandemic, but he didn’t let up. That has become a key flashpoint in the Conservatives’ leadership race, with all six candidates jockeying to prove their political credentials on the freedom fight file.

Source: thestar July 17, 2022 17:02 UTC