Councillor fires back at public ban at Pickering council, saying colleagues trying to ‘suppress the truth’

Embattled Pickering councillor Lisa Robinson said council’s decision to go virtual for their meetings in 2025 to “protect the safety, security and well-being of council, staff, and residents” is nothing more than an “all-out attack” on her ability to do her job for her constituents.

“They want to suppress the truth, manipulate the narrative and control the voices that challenge their power,” Robinson said on one of several rambling tirades on her regular YouTube video to her supporters, where she called out fellow councillor Maurice Brenner and Pickering CAO Marisa Carpino for their efforts to “suppress the truth.”

Robinson claimed Brenner was “actively working to silence me” by trying to prevent her from using her office at City Hall to record her often hate-filled podcasts, claiming she learned this through a Freedom of Information Request on redacted emails.

“It’s clear that Councillor Brenner is actively working to undermine me,” she said, adding that Brenner also tried to get her charged with a hate crime.

Robinson also singled out Carpino in her attack, saying the CAO threatened to stop her from using her office or city property for her videos, “if I don’t remain silent about the corruption and collusion that is happening at the City of Pickering.”

Robinson, who didn’t elaborate on the alleged corruption, called it a “blatant abuse of authority.”

“The Pickering CAO’s attempt to extort me an elected official, is an insult to democracy and in my opinion, criminal,” she said in a follow-up video released New Year’s Day.

Pickering Councillor Lisa Robinson

Mayor Kevin Ashe released a video Monday afternoon explaining the decision to bar the public from attending future meetings, saying the city needs to take measures to “enhance the personal safety for all” after two years of violence, threats and intimidation from Robinson’s alt-right supporters.

“Over the past two years the City of Pickering has witnessed a growing infiltration of alt-right individuals, ideologies and influences that has created an atmosphere of uncertainty over our council, our staff, our residents and indeed the broader community,” he said at the outset of the video, which provided context for the decision and also came with a warning label of “threats and extreme violence.”

The video provided a playback of Robinson’s first term in office, including:

• an appearance on a podcast with notorious fugitive Kevin Johnstone, with the host calling Ashe and his councillors “pedophiles, nazis and fascists” and suggesting “70s biker gangs” be brought in to “remove these guys by force” while Robinson smiled and nodded
• a show of support for German far-right politician Christine Anderson
• a series of “increasingly erratic and angry” messages on social media, including a cryptic poem referencing Guy Fawkes, an Englishman who tried to blow up the British Parliament in 1605, which she said serves as a “reminder” of the “value of violence against corruption”
• allowing far-right groups to organize (and run security) for her Town Hall meeting in November
• the revoking of her invitation to the Remembrance Day Veterans Dinner hosted by the local Legion the same month

But while the councillor’s conduct has led to multiple sanctions from council and the city’s Integrity Commissioner (she has seen her pay docked four times, including the last two for 90-day periods) Ashe said in his video address it is the behaviour of her supporters which has led to the decision to hold council meetings virtually going forward.

Her followers have regularly left a series of threats, text, voice mails and e-mails for council and staff to peruse, have distributed flyers in the community filled with conspiracy theories and have made a practice of disrupting council meetings to voice their displeasure with their perceived unfair treatment of Robinson.

Her online supporters became “increasingly angry” and prone to suggesting “violent action,” such as “They need to be taken down” (‘Larry’) and “Where’s Rambo when you need him?” (‘Jim’).

The video noted that communities across North America have been infiltrated by far-right groups trying to “control, sow dissent and intimidate” residents “in order to influence municipal government.”

Ashe the decision to go virtual needed to be done.

“This decision was not taken lightly but the threats to our safety demand action,” he said. “We will not expose ourselves to these external actors nor allow them to disrupt our work any longer.”

Robinson, however, saw it as a personal attack on her and a “direct insult” to the “peaceful protesters” who make up her support group.

“This is a calculated effort by the City of Pickering’s administration and council to silence me, an outspoken representative who is determined to uncover corruption, collusion, and misconduct. This is a rallying cry for integrity, accountability, and the protection of democratic freedoms. I have now been locked out of accessing staff, using my office for meetings or recording videos, and hosting my city council meetings on city property! Why? because they do not approve of the content.”