Randy Hillier

In 2003, Hillier co-founded and served as the first president of the Lanark Landowners' Association. He then assisted in creation of local landowner groups in other parts of Ontario, modelled on the Lanark Landowners. In 2006, he became the first president of the 15,000-member Ontario Landowners Association (OLA), an umbrella group for these groups. The OLA was formed "...to preserve and protect the rights of property owners and to enshrine property rights within the Constitution of Canada and the laws of the Province of Ontario."[4]

Under Hillier's leadership, the landowners' groups initially engaged in acts of civil disobedience, including blocking highways, barricading government offices, staging illegal deer hunts, and publicly breaking laws that the landowners regarded as unjust.

Hillier has explained the illegal actions of the landowners as follows:

I believe in non-violent civil disobedience. I believe when a law or rule is blatantly wrong it is a part of our democratic process to challenge that law. At times civil disobedience is used to illustrate and further bring attention to the absurdity.[5]

In 2007, when he was seeking election to the provincial legislature, Hillier was challenged to justify his participation four years earlier in an illegal deer hunt. He responded by stating,

I sent [Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty an email containing] a picture of a dead deer saying the people of Lanark County were removing nuisance deer because the Liberal government had revoked those licences [for farmers to shoot deer that were eating their crops]. I did it four years ago... and I would do it again because I will not stand for injustice and I will not stand for farmers to be put into bankruptcy.[6]

As well as acts of civil disobedience, the landowners conducted demonstrations at Queen's Park and Parliament Hill. Hillier's ability to attract media notice through the use of attention-grabbing rhetoric and tactics prompted one television commentator to describe him as "Don Cherry in plaid and rubber boots."[7] On one occasion in 2006, Hillier was arrested and detained (but not charged) for trespassing during a protest at a water quality meeting in Cornwall.[8]

After the creation of the OLA in 2006, acts of civil disobedience were replaced by attempts to influence the political system by more traditional means. Landowner-endorsed candidates ran for municipal office in many rural municipalities in the 2006 Ontario municipal elections. Hillier and other members of the OLA began to appear as witnesses before parliamentary hearings into issues affecting rural areas.[lower-alpha 1]

Hillier is the author of numerous editorials on a wide range of policy issues. Between 2003 and 2010, he contributed 11 articles to Le Québécois Libre, a bilingual libertarian online journal that was published in Montreal until 2010.[9]

Beginning in 2006, Hillier was co-publisher and co-editor of the OLA's official organ, The Landowner magazine (known since September 2019 as Landowner Voices) which is published bi-monthly. Hillier used to publish an editorial in each issue of The Landowner.[10][11]

In January 2007, Hillier resigned as president of the OLA to seek the Progressive Conservative nomination in Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington in the upcoming provincial election. Some members of the party suggested that Hillier's activist past made him an unsuitable candidate, and the Toronto Star speculated that the party might disqualify him. Scott Reid, the federal MP for Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington, responded that he would be "very disappointed" if Hillier were prevented from running, adding "I can't think of anything more dangerous to our prospects [of winning in this riding]".[12] On May 5, Hillier won a three-way nomination against Jay Brennan and Brent Cameron. He was elected MPP for the riding on October 10, 2007, capturing 40.58% of the vote and defeating Liberal candidate Ian Wilson by 820 votes.[13]

During the election campaign, some observers questioned Hillier's fitness for elected office, given his history of civil disobedience. But this history won him some admirers as well. Similarly, his willingness to take contrarian positions (for example, announcing his denial of climate change at a mid-election meeting of the editorial board of the Ottawa Citizen)[14] earned him approval as well as opposition. Shortly after this meeting, the Citizen's editorial board endorsed Hillier. An editorial in the paper advised voters to "[t]ake a chance on Randy Hillier" and stated that "the landowners'-rights activist is doing the right thing by running for the legislature and trying to change the system he's been battling for so very long."[15]

Following the 2007 election, Hillier was appointed his party's critic for rural affairs.

However, it became increasingly clear that Hillier was unhappy with the leadership of PC leader John Tory. In March 2008 an article in the Ottawa Citizen reported that Hillier was considering leaving the Progressive Conservative caucus and joining the small Reform Party of Ontario. Hillier brushed aside this rumour as "void of fact."[16]

In early March 2009, John Tory resigned as leader of the Ontario PCs. On March 30, Hillier announced his candidacy in the leadership race to succeed Tory. Few observers thought Hillier had a realistic chance of winning, but some media commentators speculated that he might fill the role of kingmaker.[17]

Lacking in high-profile endorsements, Hillier instead focused his leadership bid on a series of policy announcements. These included:

• Allowing Ontarians to vote to elect their senators;
• Enacting a law, which he proposed to call the Freedom of Association and Conscience Act, which would allow health care professionals and other government-paid individuals to refuse to provide services to which, for religious or moral reasons, they were personally opposed (such as doctors and nurses refusing to perform abortions and marriage commissioners refusing to perform same-sex marriages);
• Abolishing the Ontario Human Rights Commission and allowing all legal proceedings under the province's Human Rights Act to be dealt with in the regular court system.[2]
• Allowing the sale of beer and wine in corner stores;
• Restoration of the spring bear hunt;
• Ending the closed shop in unionized workplaces;
• Reverse the ban on the cosmetic use of pesticides;
• abolition of the province's property tax assessment agency (MPAC);
• Increasing the speed limit on Ontario highways;
• Allowing the de-amalgamation of municipalities which had been forcibly amalgamated in the 1990s;
• Cracking down on the aboriginal occupations in places like Caledonia.[18]

Hillier placed fourth in the September 2009 leadership vote, with just under 10% of the vote. However, the initial vote-count showed no clear leader among the other three candidates: Tim Hudak had won 33.9%, Frank Klees had 29.9%, and Christine Elliott had 26.4%. Because the election was structured as a preferential vote, the ballots cast by Hillier supporters were then redistributed among the other candidates. This system meant that Hillier's prior public endorsement of Tim Hudak as his own second choice for leader was important: two-thirds of the second-preference votes of Hillier supporters went to Hudak, doubling his lead over Klees.

Following the election, Tim Hudak appointed Hillier as the party's critic for Labour, and for Northern Development, Mines and Forestry in the provincial legislature.

Regarding Hillier's support of Jack MacLaren, former Ontario Landowner Association President, to challenge sitting MPP Norm Sterling at the Annual General Meeting of the Carleton-Mississippi Mills Ontario Progressive Conservative Party Riding Association, the Globe and Mail described Hillier as a "shrewd political operator"[19]

Prior to the 2011 provincial election, Randy Hillier and federal counterpart Scott Reid introduced motions to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and the federal House of Commons, respectively, to enshrine property rights for Ontarians in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

During the 2011 provincial election, it was reported that, as the result of a dispute over with the agency over taxes said to be owing for the sale of some land, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) had placed two liens with a total value of $15,000 on property owned by Hillier and his wife. Hillier responded that they were working with CRA to resolve the dispute.[20] The dispute did not hurt Hillier's reelection effort; he won by a 10,000 vote margin.

After the 2011 provincial election, Randy Hillier co-sponsored a bill to repeal Ontario's breed-specific restrictions on pit bull ownership. The bill was supported by members of all three parties at second reading in February 2012.[21] Despite passing second reading and committee, Ontario's Liberal Government did not call the Bill for third reading. It died on the order table with Premier McGuinty's prorogation of the legislature.

Following revelations in January 2012 that the head of a union local in Toronto was rehired after improperly spending public funds, Hillier called on the Ontario Government to make unions receiving public money to be made more accountable.[22]

In March 2012, Hillier introduced a bill to proclaim “Constitution Day”, recognizing the day that the British North America Act and the Constitution Act were proclaimed into law.[23]

With the support of the Canadian Taxpayer Federation, Hillier introduced a bill to strengthen the Taxpayer Protection Act introduced by the Harris government and to require all pieces of legislation be costed before they are introduced to the Ontario Legislature.[24]

In September 2013, Hillier was stripped of his role as the party's labour critic after the Toronto Star published an email Hillier had sent to the PC caucus raising concerns over colleague Monte McNaughton's private member's bill abrogating construction company EllisDon's 1950s-era collective bargaining agreement.[25] The Star revealed that Hillier's concerns included that the PC Party would receive donations from Ellis Don for pushing the legislation. Hillier acknowledged that the email was his but did not comment on it. Hillier voted against the bill at second reading along with the members of the New Democratic caucus. Hudak, McNaughton and nine other members of the Tory caucus and 22 Liberals voted for the bill at second reading.[26] All but two Liberals voted against the Bill at third reading. Hillier was not in attendance for the third reading vote.[27]

At the end of October 2013, Hillier introduced a bill to allow provincial politicians to be recalled from public office.[28] Hillier's bill received some public support after he recommended that it should apply to Toronto mayor Rob Ford, who was embroiled in a crack cocaine scandal.[29]

In the fall of 2013 Hillier wrote an article for the Canadian Parliamentary Review detailing his ideas to reform Ontario's Legislature to “empower” Members of Provincial Parliament.[30]

In October 2014 Hillier, who had been instrumental in organizing rural landowners and helping found the Lanark Landowners Association, referred to members of his former organization as "nutbars," claiming "[w]hen I was there I tried to keep a distance from the fringe elements and the nutbars, if I can put it that way." The practice adopted by Landowners Associations of seeking original Crown patents for their land "has been, quite frankly, a problem for me as an MPP,” Hillier said. “People are following this advice and not getting building permits, and then when the building inspectors visit them they’re phoning me as their MPP and seeking my assistance."[31]

Hillier stood for the position of interim leader of the party following Tim Hudak's resignation in the aftermath of the 2014 provincial election. Hillier advocated moving power out of the hands of the leader and having more decisions made by caucus, including the selection of House Leader and Whip.[2] He was defeated by Jim Wilson.[32] Prior to the caucus meeting where the vote for interim leader was held, Wilson had dismissed Hillier's bid as a stunt, saying “He’s crazy... he has consistently betrayed the trust of caucus.”[2]

In 2017 allegations were made against Hillier for violating the internal conduct policies of Tay Valley Township and the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Following a three-month investigation Hillier was found to have harassed municipal staff in Tay Valley. The township investigation wrote that Hillier “unfairly called into question the competence and proficiency of Township staff and undermined their integrity.” A letter from the township Chief Administrative Officer said there was a pattern of criticism and that the MPP had been “cautioned” about this “type of behaviour” in March. The letter stated. “Much of the information upon which you rely for your criticisms is inaccurate and the commentary about staff is disparaging. The impact of this behaviour is made even more harmful by the position and authority that you hold as MPP.”[33]

In February 2018 Hillier filed a formal complaint against former Ontario PC Leader and MPP Patrick Brown during the leadership race which was caused as a result of Brown resigning as leader. "I've known Patrick Brown to lie just about every time he opens his mouth" Hillier told reporters, he "engaged in dirty and crooked politics".[34] "He purposely and willfully lied to the people of Ontario." An investigation found no evidence to support Hillier's allegations that Brown failed to disclose gifts of travel.[35] Brown publicly responded calling Hillier's allegations “garbage,” and “fabricated”.[36][37]

Hillier was suspended from the PC caucus by Premier Doug Ford on February 20, 2019 after making what Ford characterized as "disrespectful comments to parents of children with autism."[38] He was subsequently removed from the PC caucus on March 15, 2019.[39]