Conservative MP Michelle Ferreri rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on June 3, 2024. The Canadian Press/Spencer Colby
Former Conservative MP Michelle Ferreri said the Sept. 10 assassination of American political influencer Charlie Kirk was a wake-up call that radicalism shouldn’t be allowed to run rampant, calling the moment a “turning point.”
Ferreri’s remarks came Sept. 19 at the grassroots, right-leaning 2025 Reclaiming Conference organized by the group We Unify in Calgary.
“The irony of Charlie Kirk’s assassination is that it truly is the turning point, and I genuinely believe, whether it’s a coping mechanism or not, I genuinely believe that the majority, the majority of people, mourn and grieve public assassinations,” Ferreri said.
“I think that if we let the radicals take up the space, we let them win. But I want to leave you with this, don’t become the thing that they say we are. Don’t become the thing we hate about them.”
Public Safety
Ferreri’s remarks in part focused on justice and public safety. She condemned current bail laws, saying the changes brought in under Bill C-75 in 2019 allowed overly lenient bail conditions and a society in which criminals are not sufficiently punished. Other recent laws and policies in Canada also amount to “tolerating” undesired behaviour in society, she said.
“I don’t care where you sit on the political spectrum. What I care about is that you understand that this law impacts your life and your family’s safety,” she said, adding that there are “obscene things happening in our country.”
Ferreri cited a recent visit to the federal medium-security Drumheller Institution in Alberta, where she was shown an area where inmates are allowed to use drugs. She was told it is necessary for their wellbeing.
“This is insane. … Ideology shapes policy,” Ferreri said, urging respectful but firm opposition from Canadians. “If we don’t push back, nothing changes. But how we push back is everything.”
Ferreri was among a number of speakers at the three-day conference, being held Sept. 18 to 21 at the BMO Centre in Calgary’s Stampede Park.
