It started with a small comment and has grown ever since.
In Queen’s Park on Thursday, MPP for Perry Sound-Muskoka Norm Miller was talking about northern Ontario and its importance to the Ontario PC Party. In the video above, Niagara West Glanbrook MPP Sam Oosterhoff (to Miller’s right) turns to him and says that Northumberland Quinte West MPP Lou Rinaldi referred to the north as “no man’s land”.
Rinaldi confirms to Quinte News he said those words, but not in that context. He says he was referring Bill 152 (Representation Statutes Law Amendment Act 2017) and was directing the comments to Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli.
Fedeli tells us he was not even sitting in the legislature at the time of Rinaldi’s “no man’s land” comment. He describes the video above.
On Monday morning at Queen’s Park, Sault Ste Marie MPP Ross Romano scolded Rinaldi and the Liberals for his take on the comments.
You can hear Rinaldi faintly in the background saying “Take It Outside” twice.
Rinaldi saying take it outside
(You can see the video from Monday’s discussion below. Comment made around 2:15 mark)
Rinaldi says he did not make the comment for a physical confrontation, but for discussion.
He says he understands ethics and does not need to hear the rules from rookie MPPs.
MPP Fedeli says Monday morning was volatile.
Fedeli says as a northern MPP, he has demanded an apology for the “no man’s land” statement. He says none of Rinaldi’s comments about the statement line up with the video.
Meantime, a group called the Northern Ontario Party (which wants to see separation from the rest of Ontario), is demanding the resignation of Rinaldi over the comments.
SEE THEIR LETTER BELOW
