Burnaby South PPC candidate banned from climate change town hall for her views on sex-ed

The town hall called “Post Offices & the Path to a Green Economy” is hosted by the CUPW and the Friends of Public Services.

“This non-partisan town hall will focus on Delivering Community Power, a vision for the transformation of our postal services into community hubs of renewable energy and expanded services, like postal banking, and support for seniors,” claims the event page.

Despite the event's claims to non-partisanship, event organizers have refused to invite the PPC candidate because of her advocacy against British Columbia’s sex-ed curriculum.

Thompson has been a vocal critic of the sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) curriculum calling it “gender-fluid ideology”.

“It is shameful that I have been intentionally de-platformed for my faith, values and for my anti-SOGI views. In this Townhall debate Jagmeet Singh gets a free ride, while the People’s Party of Canada, a national political party, is not welcome,” Thompson told The Post Millennial.

It is unclear why a candidate’s position on a provincial matter such as education would be the reason behind disbanding them from participating in an open forum, especially since the issue at hand is climate change.

The Post Millennial reached out to ask the organizers for the reason behind their decision to bar Thompson from the event.

"Homophobia and transphobia do not belong at our event. We do not give a platform to hate," said a representative from Friends of Public Services.

Although invitations were sent out to the remaining three candidates, only NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has confirmed that he is appearing at the event. Liberal party candidate, Richard Lee, has rejected the invitation, while CPC candidate Jay Shin has declined due to a scheduling conflict.

It is difficult to see how an event with only the NDP perspective on such a contentious issue as how to deal with climate change, can continue claiming that it’s “non-partisan”.

“This is happening right after the all-candidates debate when Jagmeet Singh had another weak performance, so this doesn’t seem like a coincidence. What does SOGI have to do with environmental issues and the current federal by-election? Nothing,” said Thompson.

Thompson has already made an appearance at the first byelection debate in the riding which took place Wednesday night on the topic of social media and foreign election interference. She has also been invited to the subsequent candidate debates before the election on February 25th.

“This is anti-democratic and that is what the PPC is fighting against,” said Thompson about the decision. “If I’m being banned because of my beliefs, this is absolutely outrageous.”