Tory staffer suddenly departs Queen’s Park after donating $100 to convoy protests

Solicitor General Sylvia Jones’s director of communications is out of a job after donating $100 earlier this month to the the convoy protests that have blockaded border crossings and occupied Ottawa, sources told the Star.

Marion Isabeau-Ringuette parted ways with Premier Doug Ford’s government on Tuesday afternoon, 10 days after she donated money to the so-called “Freedom Convoy.”

“Ms. Isabeau-Ringuette no longer works for the Ontario government,” Ivana Yelich, Ford’s executive director of media relations, said Tuesday evening.

“We’re not commenting any further as this is a staffing matter.”

Isabeau-Ringuette did not immediately return emails from the Star on Tuesday evening.

Her name surfaced online after hackers breached GiveSendGo security and took over the Christian crowdfunding website.

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Journalists and political researchers have been poring over the list of leaked names since the data was made public.

Affable and well-liked at Queen’s Park, Isabeau-Ringuette had been a senior staffer since 2018.

Her job was to work on “overall strategy direction and strategy on all communications and issues management,” according to her LinkedIn profile.

But the revelation is especially embarrassing to the Ford government, since Jones’s ministry has been deeply involved in the protest that has left Ottawa blockaded for almost three weeks.

Ford himself has repeatedly denounced the convoy as “occupiers” and urged them to stop “holding Ottawa hostage” and go home.

Robert Benzie is the Star’s Queen’s Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie

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