Controversial councillor Lisa Robinson running for mayor of Pickering
· Toronto Sun
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Controversial Pickering councillor Lisa Robinson has announced she will run in the fall election for the mayor’s seat in the city east of Toronto.
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“This campaign is not powered by insiders; it is powered by you, the people, and when ordinary people stand together, nothing is stronger,” Robinson said Sunday. “So, if you believe Pickering deserves honest leadership, if you believe taxpayers deserve respect, if you believe questions should never be punished then stand with me.”
“Together, we are taking back our city. It is time to return city hall to the people.“
As of Wednesday morning her video had 139 likes, 29 comments and more than 1,000 views.
No stranger to controversy
Robinson and current Pickering mayor Kevin Ashe have feuded publicly about Robinson’s views on contemporary issues in Canada.
Back in April, the mayor filed a formal complaint with the city’s integrity commissioner after Robinson posted a video on her YouTube page in which she questioned the findings related to the Kamloops Residential School.
Ashe apologized to Indigenous community members, survivors, families and those affected by the councillor’s remarks — though he didn’t publicly name Robinson.
Robinson was also suspended without pay in August and October of 2023. And she had to pay the City of Pickering’s legal fees to the tune of $30,000.
“The city welcomes the decision and believes that the ruling speaks for itself,” Paul Bigioni, the City of Pickering’s solicitor and director of corporate services, said in a statement to the Toronto Sun.
According to the Press Progress, she has been suspended without pay at least seven times.
In her time in office, she has been penalized for misconduct, and placed under investigation by the OPP for her ties to far-right politicos.
In her two-minute and 30-second long video, the mayoral candidate spoke briefly about some of the punishments levied against her because of her personal views and actions.
“They sanctioned me and took away my pay, they isolated me and they tried to wear me down and disappear, but I refused to back down because somebody had to fight for the people of this city,” Robinson said. “And now I am asking you to fight with me because Pickering does not belong to the insiders, it does not belong to political gatekeepers, developers or a system that punishes people for speaking up. Pickering belongs to the people who built it.”
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Contents of the campaign
The Ward 1 councillor seemed to reveal some tidbits about the content of her upcoming campaign for the top seat in the city.
“The seniors struggling to stay in their homes that they worked their whole lives for, the parents trying to raise families in a city that is becoming harder and harder to afford, the residents who feel ignored every time they ask a question, the taxpayers who are tired of watching city hall drift further and further away from the people it’s supposed to serve and the children who deserve a real future and not urban sprawl devouring our farm land,” she said. “No more closed-door politics, no more silencing debate, no more residents treated like an inconvenience in their own city.”
The last day for nominations is Aug. 21, and the election will take place on Oct. 26. According to the city’s website, Ashe and Robinson are the only two names on the ballot for the job of mayor.
“I am running to return city hall back to the people, to restore transparency, to restore accountability and restore open debate and to make sure that residents and not the insiders at city hall, the politicians, senior staff and connected friends who have been running things behind closed doors for so long, that you have the final say once again,” Robinson said.
The Toronto Sun reached out to both Robinson and Ashe but did not immediately receive a response from either candidate.