Senator Dennis Patterson is leaving the caucus of the Conservative Senate because of the party’s support for protesters opposed to vaccination mandates that have filled the streets of downtown Ottawa and created a crisis in the country’s capital.

Conservative MP Pierre Paul-Hus, the opposition critic of public services and procurement, also questioned the party’s approach and in a tweet drew attention to “undergoing the siege of Ottawa” and called for the removal of protesters.

The Conservative Party’s new interim leader, Candice Bergen, spoke this week in internal discussions against asking the protesters to go home, according to an email to The Globe and Mail. On Wednesday, Tory caucus Erin O’Toole voted out after months of tension.

In her first major move as leader, Mrs Bergen on Friday replaced the Conservatives’ parliamentary leadership team without including a Francophone member.

Veteran Quebec MP Gérard Deltell has been replaced by Ontario MP John Brassard as house manager. Ms. Bergen also appointed Alberta MP Tom Kmiec as deputy mayor, Alberta MP Blaine Calkins as the top opposition whip, and Ontario MP Lianne Rood as deputy. Everyone is known for being social conservative. They replace Mr. Deltell, Blake Richards, Michael Barrett and James Bezan.

Mr. Patterson, a Nunavut politician appointed to the Senate in 2009 on the recommendation of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, said he would retain his decades-old membership of the Conservative Party but join the Canadian Senate group.

“I was completely shocked that members of our caucus, that even our new management, [were] associates in any way with the racist, hateful, misogynistic, white supremacy hooligans of the so-called Freedom Convoy, ”said Mr. Patterson in an interview.

Some of the people who protested against pandemic restrictions and mask and vaccination mandates have carried swastika flags, as well as Confederate flags. Members of the public have reported harassment.

“That was what motivated me to finally take this step of realizing that these election rallies no longer represent the party I know,” said Mr. Patterson on the Conservative Senate and National Caucuses.

Mr. Patterson said he was appalled that conservative leaders did not strongly condemn the “continued lawless occupation of downtown Ottawa,” which he said is uncharacteristic of a party he has always seen as supportive of law and order.

In the email about the protesters to Mr. O’Toole’s senior caucus team on Monday, Ms Bergen wrote: “I do not think we should ask them to go home.

“I understand that the mood may soon change. So we have to make this the Prime Minister’s problem.”

Mrs Bergen has described the protesters in the House of Commons as “passionate, patriotic and peaceful”, and has posted pictures on social media of her meeting with some of them, saying they deserve to be heard.

Mrs Bergen’s office did not respond to a request for comment. But in a statement, she called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to provide a clear path to end the situation in Ottawa. She also urged protesters to “remain peaceful” and shout and condemn acts of hatred, racism, intolerance or violence.

Other Tory MPs have also supported the protesters.

Asked about this approach, Mr Patterson said: “I’m not comfortable at all and that’s why I know this is no longer a caucus I want to belong to and I think it’s the right thing to do in instead of laying his head down, is to speak. “

The senator, who said he admired Mr O’Toole’s leadership approach, added that he hopes a new permanent leader to be elected later this year will bring the party back to a more centered position with wide appeal.

He said he was “happy, public, triple-vaccinated,” and has supported the work that the Nunavut Territorial Government has done with the federal government during the pandemic. “Vaccine mandates and lockdowns have worked in Nunavut to avoid making a bad situation much, much worse,” he said. “I do not welcome lockdowns, but I think they are a necessary tool.”

Paul-Hus, Member of Parliament for Charlesbourg-Haute-Saint-Charles, also raised concerns on Friday. “I ask that we clear the streets and stop this occupation controlled by radical and anarchist groups,” he wrote in a tweet containing a picture of Wellington Street in the center packed with trucks parked there by protesters.

He did not respond to a request for comment.

Ontario’s Conservative MP, Dean Allison, said on social media that he respects and values ​​Mr Paul-Hus as a colleague, “but on this issue I have to strongly disagree with him.” He did not elaborate.

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