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Veteran Conservative MP Scott Reid has pledged to sever his financial support for the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party unless his provincial counterpart, MPP Randy Hillier, is invited back into the PC caucus.

Hillier, the MPP for Lanark–Frontenac–Kingston, was ousted from the Ontario PC caucus on Feb. 20following dismissive remarks he was alleged to have made toward a group of parents of children with autism in the public gallery at Queen’s Park.

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Premier Doug Ford said Hillier’s comments “crossed the line” and were “disrespectful” to the parents.

Hillier, meanwhile, said his “yada, yada, yada” remarks were directed at NDP critic and MPPMonique Taylor — a version of events Reid supports in a letter he sent to this newspaper’s editorial board Tuesday, referencing similar conclusions by eyewitness Toronto Star journalists, and the Star’s editorial board.

“Yet these facts seem to have made no more impression on Mr. Ford, than such information would have had at a Stalinist show trial,” writes the Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston MP. “Nor did it matter that Mr. Hillier has a long history of defending the rights of the parents of children in need of significant and long-term care.”