Mayor Jan Liggett has taken to an official city social media account to defend the keynote speaker at an upcoming event she has organized.
The mayor's April See Me, Hear Me summit on 'the shortcomings' of Ontario’s mental health and addictions treatment system features controversial anti-woke American author Michael Shellenberger as its keynote speaker.
Shellenberger is a widely known author and anti-woke blogger whose opinions range from climate change denial to support for conversion therapy.
The post on the city's Office of the Mayor and Council Facebook page was in response to a CambridgeToday article earlier this week. The mayor did not respond to request for comment to that article.
Shortly after the article was published, comments condemning the mayor's choice of speaker began to populate a post on the Facebook group Cambridge Citizen Discussion on politics.
Later the same evening Liggett responded with the video, posted to official 'Office of the Mayor and Council' Facebook account.
In it she says she believes the article "twisted the intent" of the event with "a very harmful, false narrative." She did not name CambridgeToday specifically.
Through the remainder of the video the mayor explains the "true intent" of the summit, how she's passionate about the subject and how she has been contacted by constituents to "intervene on their behalf as they navigate the complex treatment system."
She explains that Shellenberger is just one of the speakers at the summit, which will feature a panel of speakers. She appears to qualify his participation by saying he is a "bestselling author."
The mayor did not respond when asked to explain what she meant by "very harmful, false narrative" and whether she was referring to statements provided by the Canadian Mental Health Association outlining the agency's stance against involuntary treatment for addiction, or the details provided about the guest speaker.
CambridgeToday asked each of the councillors if they support the message in the mayor's video since it was posted on the official mayor and council Facebook page.
The account name implies councillors are consulted or at least made aware of its content.
Councillors Scott Hamilton, Corey Kimpson and Sheri Roberts, responded to confirm they had no knowledge about the See Me, Hear Me summit before they were sent invitations last week. They likewise had no knowledge of the mayor's video response to the article.
Councillors Adam Cooper and Helen Shwery "liked" the mayor's video but neither responded to CambridgeToday's request to clarify if and what they believe was the "false narrative" in the article.
"As I have stated to residents that have recently reached out to me about the ‘See Me, Hear Me’ event, this is not something, discussed, planned or organized by members of city council, and I had no idea it was occurring until I received the event’s invite by email along with the public," Hamilton stated in an email.
"Likewise, council had no formal discussions or input into any of the speakers or the keynote speaker. The entire thing took me by surprise."
Kimpson and Roberts did not respond when asked if they find it concerning the mayor appears to be speaking for council through the account.
Coun. Ross Earnshaw replied to say he was not consulted for the event and had no knowledge of the mayor's video until contacted by CambridgeToday. Any views or opinions expressed in the video are solely those of the mayor, he said.
Aside from the keynote speaker's other ideologies, Hamilton said he finds Shellenberger's book Sanfransicko to be "divisive and partisan."
"‘Why progressives ruin cities’ is literally the sub-title of the book – and I think that our mental health and addictions crisis is not a politically partisan debate, but is a health crisis that affects all residents regardless of their political backgrounds, opinions or beliefs," he said.
Regardless, he said he hopes the mayor's event "stimulates fruitful discussion, listening to the experiences of others while stressing solutions grounded in evidence-based research, health expertise, science, and the experience of local practitioners and non-profit agencies."
"This is not a political debate, but a health crisis that needs scientific and evidence-based solutions," he added.