‘Silent majority’ media event met with noisy protest at Toronto City Hall

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For half an hour, Toronto’s political divide was on full display at Nathan Phillips Square.

A joint news conference featuring an MP, a former mayoral candidate and several civic activists devolved into a noisy political spectacle Tuesday as a group of demonstrators crashed the scene, shouting about a hodgepodge of left-wing grievances such as NIMBYism and bike lanes.

Their rivals weren’t united on one political issue either, but they shared a broad, common message: Toronto City Hall is ignoring many of its constituents.

The speakers included a number of figures familiar to Toronto Sun readers, such as Roman Baber, the 416’s only Conservative MP, who shot to prominence when he broke with the provincial PC party over its COVID policies; Anthony Furey, the former mayoral candidate and Toronto Sun columnist; Daniel Tate, perhaps best known for organizing a petition opposing the renaming of Yonge-Dundas Square to Sankofa Square; and Diane Chester, who is part of a citizens’ group that has spoken out about an impending shelter on Adelaide St.

Baber was speaking out about another proposed shelter, this one on Wilson Ave. near Keele St. While Councillor James Pasternak has made that plan an issue at city council, Baber has also taken up the fight.

With a large map of the site in tow, Baber pointed out a nearby school and daycare.

“I submit to everyone respectfully – irrespective of the discourse here, irrespective of the fact that some people value free speech but obviously do not allow others to exercise their free speech – that this is not an appropriate spot for a shelter,” Baber said as the protest rumbled on to his right.

Furey said he expects Toronto will hear “more and more from (the assembled speakers) in the months to come.

“What we are hearing today is the silent majority, from communities all across this city, from all walks of life, coming together to reclaim their city from the radical fringe who have dictated the terms at city hall for too long,” Furey said. (One of the protesters shouted that Furey was a right-wing loon.)

Notable in his absence was Councillor Brad Bradford, who some see as the person most likely to champion these causes as a mayoral candidate in next year’s municipal election.

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While Bradford was listed as the last speaker at the event, he didn’t show and was said to be tied up with his city hall duties. As the news conference began to wrap up, one of the protesters jeered: “Where’s Bradford?”

At least one councillor was present, however. Alejandra Bravo was grinning off to the side with a handful of other people, one of whom appeared to move in an attempt to block a Toronto Sun reporter from taking a photo of the Davenport councillor.

Bravo’s chief of staff, Wyndham Bettencourt-McCarthy, told the Toronto Sun the councillor was not tied to the protest and only went outside to check out the commotion after hearing “a lot of noise.”

One of the few common themes was the slate of homeless shelters the city intends to open. David Margulies, who is fighting a shelter planned for Third St. in New Toronto, said city council was “shirking their responsibility” by “delegating” decisions about where shelters will go to city bureaucrats.

“This is not democracy,” Margulies said.

Tate spoke last and commanded his share of attention from the broadcast crews after the news conference. He called for an audit of city hall’s shelter services division and railed against his ward’s councillor, Chris Moise, for his focus on renaming city assets. He called the Sankofa change a “con job” and urged a “reset” on the Sumach-Shuter Parkette rebrand.

Tate drew cheers when he thanked his lawyer Calvin Barry for representing him on a mischief charge, since dropped, that came when he spray-painted a plywood box that until recently held a statue of Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister.

“Citizens want respect again,” Tate said.

jholmes@postmedia.com