Minister wants ‘hate’ tweet nixed

• Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino is calling on Twitter to remove a tweet from an Ontario politician who labelled federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra a “terrorist.”

Mendicino says the tweet from Independent MPP Randy Hillier is “flagrantly abusive, offensive and Islamophobic” and amounts to “hate speech” that should have no place on Twitter or other social media platforms.

In a tweet Tuesday supporting truckers opposed to mandatory vaccination against COVID-19 in order to cross the Canada-u.s. border, Hillier refers to Alghabra as a terrorist who has condemned Canadians to starvation in the name of public safety.

In a separate statement, Hillier calls on the RCMP to open a criminal investigation into Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whom he accuses of engaging in an “act of domestic terrorism” by depriving Canadians of food and other basic necessities.

A convoy of truckers and other vaccine opponents is on its way to Ottawa for a rally against vaccine mandates, which Hillier says he intends to attend.

Last month, Mendicino called on Twitter to act on a tweet the minister said was aimed at intimidating Canadian Medical Association president Katharine Smart for championing inoculations.