CAF vet who marched from Vancouver to Ottawa meets with MPs

CanadaMarches.ca/James Topp

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James Topp, the Canadian Armed Forces veteran who marched across Canada from British Columbia to Ottawa in protest of COVID mandates, met with members of Parliament today, after completing his more than 4,000km trek to the nation's capital.

Dressed in a suit instead of his marching attire, or the CAF uniform which first landed his name in news stories, Topp met with MPs and the media in Ottawa.

James Topp has arrived, and media is getting ready to begin the livestream shortly. More to come.@RebelNewsOnline #JamesTopp pic.twitter.com/vjPP2IqOKr

— William Diaz-Berthiaume (@wdiazberthiaume) June 22, 2022

A number of MPs met with the veteran, most of which were Conservatives, according to City News. Rebel News' William Diaz-Berthiaume listed some of the MPs who attended Topp's press conference.

Conservatives MPs including Ryan Williams and James Bezan have arrived to meet with James Topp (@CanadaMarches).

More MPs are set to arrive as well. @RebelNewsOnline pic.twitter.com/dukr2vdVD1

— William Diaz-Berthiaume (@wdiazberthiaume) June 22, 2022

No Liberal MPs in sight. I was able to see Melissa Lantsman, Warren Steinley, Ryan Williams, James Bezan, Larry Brock, Adam Chambers, Dean Allison, Ted Falk.

— William Diaz-Berthiaume (@wdiazberthiaume) June 22, 2022

Speaking to those who gathered, Topp discussed the reasons for his journey and the outpouring of support that he received while he travelled across the country.

“One thing that has jumped out at me since I started this journey is the number of folks who have come to talk to me,” Topp said. “There issue was not so much with mandates anymore, it's their dissatisfaction with the federal government,” the Armed Forces veteran explained, saying that people he spoke to had concerns about the government being “inflexible” and “unresponsive” to citizens' needs.

James Topp explains his reasons behind his journey across Canada, and describes the support he received by the population.

Topp also says that there is currently an extreme divide in our country, which scares him. @RebelNewsOnline pic.twitter.com/UCuYDxvWCO

— William Diaz-Berthiaume (@wdiazberthiaume) June 22, 2022

Topp was also accompanied at the press conference by Dr. Paul Elias Alexander, a former Department of Health and Human Services official in the Trump administration.

Alexander, who has previously spoken to X at Rebel News, talked about how government's should have strived to protect the most vulnerable among the population instead of pursuing broad sweeping mandates and lockdowns.

Medical professional Dr Paul Alexander explains that the government should have let regular people live their lives, and only strongly focus on high-risk people and nursing homes.

He then explains that the government measures were unnecessary and harmful. @RebelNewsOnline pic.twitter.com/odf6m9YNGZ

— William Diaz-Berthiaume (@wdiazberthiaume) June 22, 2022

“Lockdowns have not worked”
- Dr Paul Alexander @RebelNewsOnline pic.twitter.com/WWOCVc3xSc

— William Diaz-Berthiaume (@wdiazberthiaume) June 22, 2022

Alexander also claimed that the COVID-19 vaccines have little impact on the Omicron variant, an assertion that studies conducted during late 2021 and shared by Reuters, seems to back up.

Dr Paul Alexander explains why the Omicron vaccine DOES NOT WORK. And therefore why there should not be any mandates on that vaccine.

“It is absurd!” He says. @RebelNewsOnline pic.twitter.com/iMQ3uCyluY

— William Diaz-Berthiaume (@wdiazberthiaume) June 22, 2022

During the conference, Topp announced that now that his march across the country has concluded, he would be holding a celebration on June 30 at the National War Memorial. Additional events are also scheduled for June 23 and 24.

More information about those events can be found on Topp's Canada Marches website.

James Topp (@CanadaMarches) announces a Celebration event in Downtown Ottawa on June 30, at the War Memorial.

They emphasize that this is not a protest, and they want to celebrate Topp’s success. @RebelNewsOnline

— William Diaz-Berthiaume (@wdiazberthiaume) June 22, 2022

While a number of MPs did initially leave, several returned after participating in question period at the House of Commons, Diaz-Berthiaume reported.

James Topp gets ready to leave and thanks the MPs that remained in the room for their attention.

No MP asked any questions afterwards and around 10 of them left the room while he was speaking.

Media will be back at 4:30 PM to ask questions to James Topp. I will be there. pic.twitter.com/vVah5gXtq6

— William Diaz-Berthiaume (@wdiazberthiaume) June 22, 2022

A second meeting between James Topp and MPs is about to start.

I was informed that the MPs allegedly left earlier to go to question period, and not out of a lack of interest.@RebelNewsOnline pic.twitter.com/juo2D22lwr

— William Diaz-Berthiaume (@wdiazberthiaume) June 22, 2022

With the MPs back, Topp explained the “three R's” he's hoping to influence change on: the reparation of jobs and health care, the reinstatement of employees let go due to COVID mandates and restitution for lost wages due to COVID-related layoffs.

This, Topp believes, will go a long way towards healing the division in Canada.