Randy Hillier's Twitter account reinstated after suspension

File: Randy Hillier Photo by Tony Caldwell /mail media

Former Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston MPP Randy Hillier posted on his reactivated Twitter account on Friday, returning to the social media platform for the first time since his account was suspended in March.

“I’m back thanks (Elon Musk),” Hillier tweeted Friday afternoon, followed by a tweet that read, “Your (sic) are going to be a pandemic of hits from woke/left wing mad trolls with this news.”

Hillier also posted a screenshot of what appears to be an email from a Twitter support address stating that his account has not been suspended under the company’s reinstatement program.

Hillier sat as an independent MPP in Queen’s Park after being booted from the Ontario Progressive Conservative Caucus in 2019. He did not run for re-election this year.

Despite being released from Twitter’s list of suspended accounts, Hillier’s legal battles continue. He faces nine criminal charges and 20 provincial felony charges stemming from alleged actions during the COVID-19 pandemic, including one charge of assaulting a peace officer, two charges of obstructing police and three counts of not advising a police officer crime committed following the “Freedom Convoy” protest in downtown Ottawa.

Hillier tweeted Friday that he is bringing a constitutional challenge to the charges, which he said will be tried in January.

Hillier’s reinstatement came the day after Twitter, without warning, suspended the accounts of eight prominent American journalists from media sources including the New York Times, Washington Post and CNN.

Twitter had also shut down the account of Jack Sweeney, a college student who created a profile tracking the movements of Musk’s private jet, claiming it violated privacy rights.

The law drew protests from politicians on both sides of the Atlantic, calling for Twitter and its new CEO Elon Musk to explain the suspensions. Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in October and immediately laid off two-thirds of its workforce, throwing the platform into chaos. Under the pretense of being a “free speech absolutist,” Musk reinstated former US President Donald Trump along with accounts linked to far-right and extremist voices.

Hillier also retweeted an article in that newspaper on Friday, including an interview with Dr. Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Kieran Moore, in which Moore has linked mask requirements to young children who are becoming seriously ill with respiratory viruses this year.

“Ontario Medical Officer of Health blames a spike in infections on the mandatory masking he has instituted,” Hillier tweeted. “Dr. karen [sic] Moore is becoming an anti-masker just like me, only it took him 2 years to see the obvious.”