Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney has cancelled an appearance at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, where he was scheduled to speak, along with his daughter Liz, on April 24 about his time in U.S. politics. Apparently, Canada is too dangerous for the Cheney family.
“Quite simply, Canada is just not a friendly country to them,” Robert Ruppert, president of Spectre-Live, the event organizer, told the Toronto Sun. “(They) decided it was better for their personal safety they stay out of Canada,” he added to the Canadian Press.
The last time Cheney visited Canada was in September of 2011, when he went to Vancouver to promote his recently published memoir, In My Time. He was greeted by protesters denouncing him as a war criminal, with some arguing that Canada should arrest him and hand him over to the International Criminal Court. After all, this is the man who claimed—wrongly—there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, justifying the unprovoked American invasion of the country in 2003. He has also defended the use of waterboarding, a practice widely deemed to be torture.
In Vancouver last September, anti-Cheney protesters scuffled with police and booed as guests arrived to hear Cheney speak. One man was arrested for choking a staff member at the venue, and Cheney was reportedly forced to remain inside for hours while the cops cleared out the angry crowd.
So he’s not coming back.
Those who had already bought tickets to see him in Toronto, at prices ranging from $79 to $595, will be eligible for refunds. Or they can go listen to Cheney’s replacements, the vociferous free speech advocate Mark Steyn and the Sun News Network’s Michael Coren.