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Independent MPP Roman Baber, known for opposing COVID-19 health measures, has thrown his hat in the ring to be the next federal Conservative leader.
His speech on Wednesday night was light on policy and heavy on appealing to the unvaccinated and those worried about the creep of &#8220;communism&#8221; under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
To the delight of the crowd at his campaign launch in his riding of York Centre, in Toronto, Baber played up his anti-establishment cred throughout his 10-minute speech.
He noted that Ontario Premier Doug Ford <a href="https://www.qpbriefing.com/2021/01/15/roman-baber-booted-out-of-pc-caucus-following-public-opposition-to-lockdown/">booted him from</a> his Progressive Conservative party for opposing its COVID restrictions in early 2021, and that he also criticized the party&#8217;s autism plan in a leaked <a href="https://www.qpbriefing.com/2019/07/03/on-the-heels-of-baber-report-minister-smith-says-24924-children-on-the-autism-wait-list-commits-to-releasing-numbers-monthly/">internal report.</a>
He promised to stand up for people who &#8220;made a different medical decision,&#8221; and to never require vaccine passports or make other COVID rules.
&#8220;You will always know where I stand, and I will always do what I believe is right,&#8221; he said.
Baber, who&#8217;s overcome <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2017/01/16/upstart-roman-baber-trounces-joe-oliver-in-ontario-pc-battle.html">stiff odds before</a>, has no real chance of winning this time. Well-known faces such as Pierre Poilievre, Jean Charest, and Patrick Brown are in the mix — and he&#8217;s even outflanked on the anti-mandate side by Leslyn Lewis, who&#8217;s also vowed to defend the unvaccinated, and has refused to disclose whether she&#8217;s gotten her shot. (Baber has said he&#8217;s fully vaccinated.)
While other former Progressive Conservatives who oppose COVID restrictions — such as Belinda Karahalios and Randy Hillier, who went in the opposite direction by declaring the major parties irredeemably corrupt — Baber promised to shake things up from the inside.
&#8220;We&#8217;re going to disrupt politics and change the way politics is done,&#8221; he said.
He promised to unite the federal Conservative party, which has ousted two leaders in the last two years, and within which a hard-right faction is battling a more centrist one.
Baber spoke about achieving the Canadian dream after his family immigrated to Toronto when he was 15. Before then, they lived in Israel and the Soviet Union.
&#8220;My first mattress was from a recycling bin across the street,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But it didn&#8217;t matter, because I always had a job.&#8221;
He segued from his Soviet roots to depicting Trudeau as a far-left despot, which was popular with the crowd.
&#8220;I&#8217;m so very concerned for Canada&#8217;s democracy,&#8221; Baber said. &#8220;Censorship, limits on mobility, and discrimination are things my family escaped when we fled from a communist regime.&#8221;
Baber implied that the government had acted illegally, a popular charge by those who believe COVID restrictions violated Canadians&#8217; charter rights that hasn&#8217;t help up in the courts so far.
&#8220;We must show respect for the rule of law, which means government is also under the law,&#8221; said Baber, a lawyer by trade who sued the Ford government for limiting the number of people who can gather.
Baber&#8217;s speech wasn&#8217;t entirely COVID-related. He also promised to support Canadian oil and gas, which he said was the target of a &#8220;woke&#8221; campaign.
&#8220;I will not let oil and gas be cancelled,&#8221; he said.
He also said he opposes Quebec&#8217;s controversial Bill 21, which bans public-sector employees from wearing religious symbols, because it undermines Canadian multiculturalism.
Baber also said he&#8217;d increase the housing supply, boost the amount that first-time homebuyers can withdraw from their RRSPs, and build more infrastructure and hospital beds.
He choked up when talking about work.
&#8220;Canadians don&#8217;t need any more &#8216;woke&#8217; lectures. We want the ability to make an honest living, to learn a trade, or to start a business. Canadians don&#8217;t want basic income. We want to earn an income,&#8221; he said.
After his speech, Baber hugged and mingled with dozens of unmasked supporters.
This story was copy-edited after publication.

Roman Baber promises to ‘disrupt politics’ in Tory leadership bid