Chatham-Kent-Leamington’s MPP has a new role, officially joining the Ontario Party and becoming its first sitting member in the Legislature.
Rick Nicholls became an independent in August after being ejected from the PC caucus for refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
“I am very pleased to announce that I am joining thousands of Ontarians who have also decided to join the Ontario Party”, Nicholls said in a statement. “I look forward to working with Derek Sloan and the entire Ontario Party, as we bring our shared, conservative values forward to oppose Doug Ford’s threat to our freedoms and democracy in Ontario.”
Founded in 2018, the Ontario Party is billed as a social conservative, fiscal conservative, and right-wing populist political party, earning 0.04% of the overall vote in the last provincial election.
A spokesperson with Nicholls’ office says it remains undecided at this point whether he’ll be running in the 2022 election.
