In cities and towns across Ontario — and at Queen’s Park and Parliament Hill — our journalists work for you. Their mission is to dig for answers and tell you what they find.
This new feature — ‘Closer Look’ — is a chance to hear directly from those reporters and editors. These conversations go beyond the headlines, helping viewers better understand how we gather the details that land in your local news feed.
On tonight's episode: Fired for being a PPC candidate?
Earlier this month, Nicholas Bonderoff declared himself as the People's Party of Canada candidate in the newly formed riding of Sudbury East—Manitoulin—Nickel Belt. The next day, he was terminated from his job as a manager at the engineering firm BESTECH.
“They’re a great company, but I believe that they were concerned from strictly a business perspective that having me associated with the PPC and working for the company could impact them negatively,” Bonderoff said.
SEE: People’s Party candidate believes political views led to his firing
Bonderoff is promising to launch a legal challenge. In the meantime, his firing has drawn a lot of attention his campaign — including from PPC leader Maxime Bernier, who jumped to his candidate's defence.
“We are living, supposedly, in a democratic country where you have a Charter of Rights and the freedom of thought, freedom of opinion is important,” Bernier told Sudbury.com, adding that Bonderoff should not have been fired for his political beliefs.
“You’re doing that in a communist country, not a democratic country," he said. "Shame on them."
SEE: ‘Shame on them,’ PPC leader says after Sudbury candidate fired
Sudbury.com reporter Tyler Clarke has been covering the story and joins us tonight with all the details. You can read his latest article HERE.
Stay tuned for more episodes of ‘Closer Look’ every weeknight at 7 p.m. You can find all our previous segments HERE.
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