Bubble zones for "all-ages" drag shows in Ontario?
Wednesday, April 5, 2023
Yesterday in the Ontario Legislature, where the Ford PCs hold a majority government, an extremely draconian NDP bill was introduced at First Reading.
NDP MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam’s Bill 94 would allow Ontario's Attorney General to create 100-metre "bubble zones" around addresses (such as venues hosting drag queen performances for children) so that anyone deemed to be using “hate speech” or protesting in the area could be fined up to $25,000.
PC Government House Leader Paul Calandra praised the bill, saying that he thinks all MPPs "understand how important it is that everybody feel safe in the province of Ontario and that we honour everybody's rights to live and prosper in Ontario, regardless of who you are, who you love, and what god you worship."
It isn't a surprise the Ford PCs favour this NDP bill. The PCs have favoured all of the social justice initiatives (including "bubble zones") put forward by the NDP and the Liberals over the last five years and even before 2018.
Recently, we sounded the alarm over the Ford PCs using your tax dollars to fund an "all ages" drag night in Kitchener. Click here to read about it.
And during my four years as an MPP, there wasn't a single PC MPP or independent that would stand with me against "bubble zones" and other far-left social justice initiatives.
In 2020, LifeSite News briefly covered my successful advocacy to stop a "bubble zone" that the Ford PCs were planning to put in place - click here to read the article.
The Ontario PC Party's championing of social justice initiatives from the NDP and the Liberals goes back even further than 2020.
In 2019, the Ford government was going to place a "bubble zone" around an abortion clinic in Kitchener.
I stopped the PCs from moving forward with that plan by making it clear I would not stay silent on the issue.
The idea of "bubble zones" actually originated in 2017 when Kathleen Wynne's Liberal government brought forward legislation similar to the NDP's proposal.
That Liberal legislation - Bill 163 - ushered in the creation of 50 to 150-metre "bubble zones" around abortion clinics, so that anyone taking part in activities like praying or holding a sign "for the purpose of dissuading a person from accessing abortion" could be fined up to $10,000 or face up to a year in jail.
Not a single PC MPP voted against the Wynne Liberals' "bubble zone" legislation.
Many MPPs (who claim to be pro-life in secret, like Derek Sloan's co-conspirator Rick Nicholls) voted in favour of it!
After five years of the Ford PCs being in government, that Liberal legislation has remained in place and the PCs continue to receive applications for new "bubble zones."
The New Blue Party will continue to hold the Ford PCs to account when they applaud and vote in favour of left wing legislation - whether it is presented by the Ontario NDP, Liberals, or their own PC members.
We will continue to challenge the left, balance the narrative, and change the course.
But we can't do it without your help.
Please consider a contribution to help us prepare for the upcoming provincial by-elections in three ridings. Click here to chip in!
Thank you so much for your support - and stay tuned for more about our by-election campaigns!
Belinda Karahalios
New Blue Party of Ontario