Senator Censured for Comments on Freedom Convoy Caught on Video

Senator Michael L. MacDonald arrives ahead of the screening of "Sharkwater Extinction" during the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto, on Sept. 7, 2018. The Canadian Press/Christopher Katsarov

A Nova Scotia senator who was captured on video criticizing downtown residents who complained about the Freedom Convoy has been censured by his fellow senators.

On Nov. 30, the Senate chamber voted on division (without unanimous consent) to issue the sanction against Conservative Senator Michael MacDonald. The sanction holds a symbolic value but does not entail any penalties.

Toward the end of the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa, Mr. MacDonald was recorded speaking to a man about the protest on the sidewalk in front of Parliament Hill. Mr. MacDonald had asked the person not to record him, and was told that his comments were not being recorded.

In the footage that was uploaded to social media shortly after, Mr. MacDonald expressed his support for the protestors who had “had enough of the ... duplicity and the lies and the social management ... and the control freaks and everything else,” in regards to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The senator also said he did not want the protestors to leave the city and criticized the Ottawa residents who did. “I hear this all the time, ‘They’re in our city.’ It’s everybody’s [expletive] city. This is the capital of our country,” he says. “It’s not your [expletive] city just because you have a six-figure salary and work 20 hours a week.”

After the video footage was posted online, a “mortified” Mr. MacDonald apologized for his remarks in the Senate on Feb. 21, 2022, days after police had launched an operation to remove the protestors from the city. “I expect better from me and I will do better going forward,” he said.

Mr. MacDonald also told the Senate that he, like many Canadians, was “mentally exhausted after two years of lockdowns and a third year facing more of the same. It was the demand to open this country back up that I support,” he said.

In July 2023, the Senate ethics watchdog found that Mr. MacDonald violated six sections of the Senate code of conduct; two related to his conduct in the video and four related to a failure to comply during the Senate investigation itself.

“Senators are expected to represent Canadians, not denigrate, mock and demean them, while encouraging illegal activities at a time when a state of emergency had been declared,” wrote Senate Ethics Officer Pierre Legault, adding that Mr. MacDonald’s request not to have his remarks filmed showed an “intentional failure to exercise dignified reserve and restraint.”

‘Excessive’

During Senate proceedings on Dec. 5, Mr. MacDonald again repeated that his comments were insensitive and said he apologizes to those he may have offended. “The way I expressed myself is not who I am, and it has weighed heavily on me for the nearly two years of this inquiry process, a process which I could have handled more appropriately,” he said.

“I assure you I have learned great lessons from this humbling experience. ... I will be better going forward.”

Senator Dennis Patterson spoke out against the censure of Mr. MacDonald, claiming that the scope of the ethics code seemed to go beyond other parliamentary rules that only focus on senators’ conduct while they are carrying out their Senate-related duties. He also suggested the censure might infringe on Mr. MacDonald’s constitutional rights and potentially violate the Charter.

“I think the censure recommendation of the committee is excessive. The apologies and the public humiliation should suffice,” he said.

On Nov. 4, 2022, Mr. Patterson announced he was leaving the senators’ Conservative caucus and joining the non-partisan Canadian Senators Group in protest of the Tories’ position in support of the Freedom Convoy. “I wholeheartedly and unreservedly deplore and denounce what is happening in Ottawa with the so-called Freedom Convoy right now,” Mr. Patterson said on X, formerly known as Twitter.