Derek Sloan

In 2018, Sloan announced that he would seek the Conservative Party of Canada nomination for the riding of Hastings—Lennox and Addington.[12] At the nomination meeting, Sloan defeated three other candidates: a city councillor who had served for fifteen years in Belleville, a lawyer who had lived in the area for twenty years, and a local business owner.[13] Sloan defeated Liberal incumbent Mike Bossio in the 2019 federal election, becoming the first Seventh-day Adventist ever elected to the Canadian House of Commons.[14]

Sloan announced his candidacy for the 2020 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election on January 22, 2020.[15] On January 27, Sloan made national headlines after tweeting in response to fellow leadership candidate Richard Décarie his belief that being gay is a choice.[16] During an interview on the CTV Power Panel Sloan went on to elaborate that he felt that the science of whether sexual orientation is a choice is unclear.[3] Sloan's comments were criticized by his former election campaign manager, Eric Lorenzen, and fellow leadership candidate Marilyn Gladu.[3]

A self-identified social conservative, Sloan attracted controversy for the policy positions he endorsed throughout the leadership race.[17] Sloan stated that were he elected leader he would permit Conservative MPs to reopen the abortion debate or introduce private member bills aimed at over-turning same sex marriage.[17] He also voiced opposition to Bill C-16, which protects people from discrimination on the basis of gender identity.[18] He also vowed to vote against a federal ban on the pseudoscientific practice of conversion therapy, arguing that parents should be able to make children identify with the body they are born with.[19] Sloan has been widely criticized in the media and even within the Conservative Party for these views.[20][3][21]

On February 6, 2020, members of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte blockaded the Canadian National Railway north of Tyendinaga, in support the Wetʼsuwetʼen hereditary chiefs' opposition to the Coastal GasLink Pipeline within Sloan's riding of Hastings—Lennox and Addington.[22] Sloan spoke publicly about the blockade for the first time on February 18, stating the Liberal government should have responded faster to the protests.[22] Three days later Sloan characterized the protesters as "radical extremists" and called on the Ontario Provincial Police to enforce an injunction to remove the blockade.[23]

On April 23, 2020, Sloan again made national headlines after tweeting a video in which he asked whether Canada's Chief Medical Officer Theresa Tam worked "for Canada or for China?"[24] Sloan's comments singled out Theresa Tam, a Chinese Canadian, and were denounced as racist on social media;[24][4] Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called them intolerant, saying they had no place in Canada,[25] and several fellow Conservative MPs denounced them as personal attacks.[24] Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer initially declined to comment on Sloan's remarks,[26] but stated that it was "inappropriate to question someone’s loyalty to their country" the following week.[27] The municipality of Hastings County condemned Sloan's remarks as “cruel and racist” and unrepresentative of the people of his riding, before calling on him to be expelled from the Conservative Party.[4] Sloan said the following day that he would not apologize, because "the idea people would think it was racist was not even on my mind. I would have said those statements about any public health officer that made those decisions in her spot".[28] The Chinese Canadian National Council (SJ) submitted a letter to the Conservative Party demanding that Sloan be expelled from the party's caucus and denied the opportunity to run for its leadership.[29] In an emergency session on April 29, 2020, Conservative MPs demanded Sloan apologize for his statements.[30] In a statement on April 29, Sloan said his comments were "rhetorical" but declined to retract them.[31]

In the leadership election, Sloan placed last on the first ballot and was subsequently eliminated after winning 14.39% of first ballot points.[32]

Shortly after Erin O'Toole won the leadership, Liberal MP Pam Damoff called for Sloan's expulsion from the Conservative caucus. Sloan called it part of the Liberals' electoral strategy while O'Toole declined to say whether or not he would expel him from caucus.[33] Despite a petition launched by anti-abortion organization Campaign Life Coalition for his inclusion, O'Toole did not include Sloan in his Shadow Cabinet.[34][35] In October 2020, Sloan voted against a bill banning various forms of conversion therapy. He claimed that the bill would outlaw prayer and "amounts to child abuse", using it for fundraising purposes following the vote.[36][37] Sloan signed an E-petition that raised questions about the safety of a future coronavirus vaccine. When asked about the e-petition he stated that it had "good points".[38]

On January 18, 2021, O'Toole announced plans to remove Sloan from the Conservative Party caucus (of Conservative Members of Parliament) after it was revealed that Sloan unknowingly accepted a donation of $131 from white nationalist Paul Fromm. Sloan received the money (donated under the name "Frederick P. Fromm") during the 2020 leadership campaign. Upon learning of the donation, Sloan asked the Conservative Party to arrange for its return to Fromm. He also pointed out on social media that the Conservative party had taken a ten percent cut of the donation. [39] O'Toole also stated that Sloan was not allowed to run as a Conservative candidate in the upcoming Federal Election.[40] The party also investigated his use of robocalls during his leadership campaign.[41] Sloan was voted out of the Conservative caucus on January 20, 2021.[5][42]

Before that decision was made, the Party had issued a statement that "Sloan's campaign ... sold the party membership to Fromm". In a statement on January 20, 2021, Erin O'Toole explained that Sloan's acceptance of a donation from a white nationalist was just one factor of many that led to the ouster:[43]

"The Conservative caucus voted to remove Derek Sloan not because of one specific event, but because of a pattern of destructive behaviour involving multiple incidents and disrespect towards the Conservative team for over a year".