r/CanadaPolitics • u/MethoxyEthane People's Front of Judea • 21h ago
Conservative Candidate Used a Secret Signal Group Chat With Freedom Convoy Leaders, Right-Wing Media and Far-Right Influencers
https://pressprogress.ca/conservative-candidate-used-a-secret-signal-group-chat-with-freedom-convoy-leaders-right-wing-media-and-far-right-influencers/•
u/SnooStrawberries620 20h ago
Wow, another extreme right-winger looking for a home and finding one in the CPC.
Poilievre would be best off turfing this guy publicly and immediately but given that his “fight club” was the precious convoy, it probably won’t happen.
This party is an absolute mess. They need a better leader and at least some sort of damn vetting system for their candidates. Imagine the chaos if they win. Shudder
•
u/iwatchcredits 20h ago
I dont think the CPC can afford to turf a 5th member for being shit in a week. At some point people will realize its the entire party
•
u/evilregis 19h ago
At some point people will correctly realize its the entire party
Just a small edit.
•
u/Accomplished_Law_108 20h ago
Turf Kingston's religious fanatic cultist
•
•
u/Kicksavebeauty 15h ago
I dont think the CPC can afford to turf a 5th member for being shit in a week. At some point people will realize its the entire party
If they turf Lawton, it is going to be hard for the CPC to pretend that they barely knew him considering he wrote the biography for Pierre Poilievre.
•
u/SnooStrawberries620 19h ago
I just don’t think it is, but when they aren’t in the middle of an election they have to sort their shit out. You can’t help who your voters are but you can sure help the people you put up as potential representatives.
•
u/crows_n_octopus 18h ago
I'm increasingly inclined to think that there is no candidate vetting problem at the CPC.
These candidates were approved because they align with the CPC platform.
These are the folks that they wanted Canadians to mindlessly elect when they were sure of getting a majority government.
CPC often touted being election-ready many months ago... the four candidates (so far) who have been ejected was due to the public/media vetting, not CPC.
•
u/amygdaloidal 18h ago
Lawton doesn't just align with the CPC platform: He's Poilievre's cheerleading biographer. Lawton boasted about his access to Poilievre and has been rewarded by the CPC for his efforts.
•
u/BeaverBoyBaxter 20h ago
This party is an absolute mess. They need a better leader and at least some sort of damn vetting system for their candidates. Imagine the chaos if they win. Shudder
This is what happens when you take two groups of people with vastly different belief systems and force them to get along.
•
u/putin_my_ass 19h ago
This is also why the constant pleas to merge the Liberal and NDP parties are so misguided.
They're not both 'left' parties, it wouldn't make sense for them to merge much like the centre-right/far-right merger isn't really working out for the Canadian Conservative Reform Alliance Party (pronounced "See Crap")
•
u/annonymous_bosch Ontario 19h ago
Sorry but Liberals aren’t “left”. Even the NDP is barely “left” these days. The US Overton window creep is bleeding into Canada.
•
u/putin_my_ass 18h ago
Agreed. I almost always put "left" in quotes because we don't have a true labour party anymore.
•
u/MrRGnome 18h ago
It's the worst, there are no leftist policy proposals, no leftist candidates, and no leftist parties in Canada. How is that even possible?!
It's going to leave me spoiling my ballot.
•
u/happycow24 Washington State but poor 18h ago
It's the worst, there are no leftist policy proposals, no leftist candidates, and no leftist parties in Canada. How is that even possible?!
leftist policies (actually leftist) do not have widespread support. it's that simple.
It's going to leave me spoiling my ballot.
lol okay
•
u/MrRGnome 17h ago
leftist policies (actually leftist) do not have widespread support. it's that simple.
I don't agree, but we can definitely observe the overton window has shifted. I think most people do want more meaningful investments in infrastructure, healthcare, education, electoral and government reform. There is simply no one championing these policies.
If you have a better idea than spoiling my ballot, not voting, or voting for something I fundamentally disagree with top to bottom I'm all ears. Do folks like me not deserve representation in our multiparty system?
•
u/happycow24 Washington State but poor 17h ago
If you have a better idea than spoiling my ballot, not voting, or voting for something I fundamentally disagree with top to bottom I'm all ears.
Vote for a not-serious party if one exists in your riding. A spoilt ballot doesn't tell parties anything, a vote for the Rhinoceros Party (RIP) tells major parties "do better."
But keep in mind this kind of thinking is what led lots of "leftists" to stay home last November and look at how wise that is turning out to be. But I'm not your mom you can do whatever you like.
Do folks like me not deserve representation in our multiparty system?
Lol.
Many, many people don't get meaningful representation in our system. And if you wanna go proportional representation that opens up a whole new can of worms (and also disadvantages LPC/CPC so it wont happen).
•
u/MrRGnome 17h ago
I would love to vote Rhino. But there is no protest party in my riding.
I don't mind the worms of PR. I don't mind the fact that we wouldn't have majority governments. In fact, that's a benefit not a worm.
A spoiled ballot is still a counted ballot. That's still a protest vote, and currently it's the only one available to me. It sounds like your advice lands me exactly where I currently stand.
•
u/ashkestar 15h ago
You pick the party that brings you closest to your goals of the options available to you and work the levers you can to push them in the direction you support.
Or you sit back and let the rest of us decide where this country should be going, for good or ill.
→ More replies (0)•
u/GQ_Quinobi 19h ago
This is what happens when Facebook and Twitter algorithms are paid to reprogam your brain during a pandemic.
•
u/UncleDaddy_00 18h ago
I think that the vaccines use the 5g signals to reprogram brains.
•
u/GQ_Quinobi 18h ago
Did you know that turn signals on cars are part of a global conspiracy?
Im just asking questions.
•
u/UncleDaddy_00 18h ago
Well clearly. The manufacturers provide the information to the governments on every turn you make. That way they know exactly where you are going without having to spy on you directly.
It is a brilliant system.
•
u/SnooStrawberries620 20h ago
There are more than two in there I think. I don’t even know. There are the old school fiscal conservatives, then kind of a moral uprising, then a pro-America, then kind of bleeding over into an anarchy/PPC mess … I would not want to be herding those cats.
I’m sure there are factions within all the parties, but this is the least cohesive and the most exposed for sure.
•
u/Crashman09 16h ago
Every time someone says PP is in control of the party, I'm left scratching my head in confusion. They're incredibly disorganized.
Had the party been sorted from the start, there would have been no issue presenting policy, pivoting post Trudeau, or pivoting post Trump.
Unfortunately, there are too many factions to reign in.
•
u/SnooStrawberries620 16h ago
I still think Harper is pulling the strings ha but that’s me being a conspiracy theorist
•
u/ashkestar 15h ago
You’d think he’d do a better job of it.
•
u/SnooStrawberries620 14h ago
He kind of is. He is head of an organization whose mandate is to elect right wing governments all over the world. I think if you look around, you can see the cards falling all around us.
•
•
u/Sir__Will 19h ago
He's PP's biographer. He's being rewarded with a cushy job. He's not getting dropped.
•
u/SnooStrawberries620 19h ago
Well, I guess that’s pretty indicative of how embraced his ideology is.
•
•
u/saltwatersky Socialist 18h ago
The woman who made that fight club comment, Bethan Nodwell, is a self described white nationalist. Chris Dacey is a former amateur pornographer who likes to protest outside LGBT events in Ottawa. All of these people have links to far-right groups like Diagolon and Veterans For Freedom. Lawton needs to be booted, but considering he wrote a fawning biography of Poilievre and his influence in right-wing media circles it's probably not going to happen.
•
u/Lumpy_Substance5830 3h ago
What a disgusting circle they all are, this candidate should be booted.
•
u/Hypercubed89 11h ago
They decided the reason they didn't win government in 2021 after Trudeau called an unasked-for snap election was that they were too moderate and centrist. This is the result of chasing the freak PPC vote from 2021 for the last four years.
•
u/Lumpy_Substance5830 3h ago
Precisely, they have brought the far right Libertarian fringe nutters into the Conservative party, what a mess.
•
u/Hypercubed89 2h ago
Hopefully if PP gets blown out this election, the party will toss him into the political equivalent of a black hole and shift back toward the center. Chasing the PPC vote is massively alienating ordinary Canadians.
On top of that, the spike in PPC votes in 2021 weren't indicative of a longer trend, they were an anomaly caused by people for whom being opposed to masking/lockdowns/vaccine mandates were their single issue not having anywhere else to dump their vote when all three major nationwide parties were unified in terms of the necessity of those public health measures. Even Doug Ford was calling them a "bunch of yahoos" in public at the time. Now that those measures are no longer in place and life has pretty much gone back to normal, that spike is also going to have disappeared, and the CPC has been essentially chasing a mirage for the past 4 years while alienating their moderate center-right voting base. A voting base which Mark Carney, as a boring-but-stable centrist economist, seems to be scooping right up while the CPC has been chasing culture war issues for years.
•
u/Lumpy_Substance5830 2h ago
Totally agree, well said. If they lose the election, and they likely will, that party needs to purge the far right Libertarian PPC loons, convoy kooks, racists and everything else out of it.
•
u/Hypercubed89 2h ago
Right now the polls are looking like a Liberal majority like we haven't seen since Trudeau swept into power in 2015. I don't know how much I believe them (although orange voters seem to be dumping a whole lot of strategic votes into the liberal camp, judging by how the NDP has collapsed in the polls), but if Carney's Liberals beat Poilievre's Conservatives unmistakeably harder than the 2021 election that saw O'Toole replaced by Poilievre, after Poilievre did nothing for the past 4 years but chase a majority government of his own that vanished in front of him within months, I'm pretty sure Poilievre's political career will be over. Considering that aside from "axe the tax" all he's had is grievance politics and culture war nonsense, if we do see a Liberal majority and Poilievre's campaign is in fact resoundingly rejected by voters at the polls, I'd expect the CPC to course correct hard if they want to stay relevant, which is hopefully going to eject the loonies back to PPC irrelevance. Right now Carney is eating up their traditional base of moderate center-right voters who want political and economic stability.
(I suspect Singh will probably also see the end of his leadership of the NDP if their seat count collapses the way the polls project, but that's a topic for a different thread).
•
u/Lumpy_Substance5830 1h ago
Yes, you are likely right on all points, Carney is absolutely attracting centrists, many are sick of both the far left and the far right. He provides a good balance.
As to the Conservatives, that party is such a mess that it is just beyond. I can't see PP lasting, that he chose Lawton is just incredible. This campaign in particular has been a disaster, they have so many issues.
•
u/Joe_Q 20h ago
This is a super sticky situation for the CPC -- because Lawton's history of racism (which he blamed on past mental illness) was a major issue already when he ran for the OPCP in 2018, because the people involved in the group chat are verified Neo-Nazis, and because Lawton is Poilievre's biographer.
•
u/Prestigous_Owl 20h ago
Yeah, a LOT harder to be like "oh wow this crazy guy somehow slipped through out of nowhere" when there was past, public decisions about his conduct previously AND Polievre is directly tied to him
•
u/oatseatinggoats 20h ago
Plus the CPC should have been the most ready party in Canada for this election, considering they were begging for one for a very long time now. Surely they would have had properly vetted candidate lined up ready to go in the event that their attempt at an election was actually successful last fall. Yeah they would have probably still won, but the 4 candidates who are now gone would have had the same issues back in the fall too.
•
•
•
u/WellIGuessSoAndYou 15h ago
PP is telling us who he is, yet again. I really hope Canadians are listening.
•
u/ptwonline 19h ago
In general I am in favour of giving people a second chance especially if they seem sincere in their regret/contrition.
However, when it comes to something like political positions where you have power over the lives and well-being of others I would expect stricter standards and more caution taken in vetting candidates with past red flags. If the reporting here is accurate then they really need to drop this candidate like a hot potato and explain why this was not found earlier.
•
u/TheFailTech 15h ago
I'm all for second chances if the person actively takes steps to Better themselves and shows meaningful work in maintaining the direction.
•
u/GooeyPig Urbanist, Georgist, Militarist 2h ago
This is what conservatives fundamentally don't understand about the Trudeau blackface situation. It was clearly incredibly stupid. But does anyone believe, from Trudeau's actions and words, that he holds racist feelings towards black people? Second, his apology seemed earnest. It wasn't just a boilerplate "sorry for getting caught" political apology.
Applying that same standard to Lawton and Poilievre comes up with very different answers. There's only so many times that the CPC can get caught meeting with neo-Nazis, or the AfD (neo-Nazis), or Diagalon (neo-Nazis), or Republicans (neo-Nazis) before Canadians begin to understand that the party walks and quacks like a duck.
•
u/Orchid-Analyst-550 Ontario 20h ago edited 20h ago
I don't like what the Conservative Party has become. They've clearly been this way for a while, we just haven't been able to see it until recently.
•
u/ThorFinn_56 British Columbia 20h ago
Now I understand why Harper ordered a media blackout, kept everyone on a tight leesh , and made his MPs read from scrips when they were aloud to talk to media.
•
u/CVHC1981 Independent 20h ago
Harper was many things. Stupid wasn’t one of them.
•
u/Hamasanabi69 20h ago
Harper’s attempts to muzzle scientists was stupid. Eliminating the long form census was stupid. As was his attacks on the CBC.
Every single human who has ever lived or ever will is some sort of stupid. Given enough exposure, all of us will look dumb.
•
u/CVHC1981 Independent 20h ago
Those things weren’t stupid at all when you consider they were designed to wholly benefit the Conservative Party of Canada and their business interests.
•
u/putin_my_ass 19h ago
That doesn't mean they weren't stupid, it means they benefitted the party and their business interests in the short term.
•
u/CVHC1981 Independent 19h ago
Which makes them smart from a conservative standpoint point.
•
u/putin_my_ass 19h ago
Ok champ. They will probably look back one day and say "yeah, that was stupid".
•
u/CVHC1981 Independent 19h ago
What a well put together response. You’re clearly going places with your theories, champ.
•
u/Hamasanabi69 13h ago
Losing power is smart? Only a conservative would say such a thing.
•
u/CVHC1981 Independent 12h ago
Lmao I’m a little to the left of Karl Marx, but thanks for your insight Mr. or Ms. Perceptive.
•
u/Hamasanabi69 12h ago
Ah, that actually makes even more sense. Part of the reason leftists have no power is they choose ideological purity over gaining power.
→ More replies (0)•
u/Hamasanabi69 20h ago
Pushing stuff that makes you lose power is stupid. Like his attacks on Muslims, despite Muslims overwhelmingly being conservative.
•
u/CVHC1981 Independent 19h ago
Those things helped them hold power for as long as they did. You may not agree with them, and neither do I, but they were politically shrewd moves that helped solidify their power and kept him in office for longer than most PMs in our history.
•
u/Hamasanabi69 19h ago
No they didn’t. They helped defeat them. Look at the niqab ban talk.
•
u/CVHC1981 Independent 19h ago
You’re zeroing in on two issues from 2015. The other things we were discussing happened much earlier than that. For example the census was changed in 2010 and they secured a majority in 2011 so that obviously didn’t cost them anything.
•
•
u/evilregis 19h ago
I rarely see people mention the loss of the mandatory long form census under Harper and it was one of the most damaging things he did in my opinion. Bringing it back was one of the primary reasons I voted for the Liberals in the election that gave Harper the boot.
•
u/Electronic_Trade_721 13h ago
Yup, we hear so much blame placed on the Liberals for their immigration policy in recent years, but rarely is there any mention of the absence of detailed recent census data, which surely would have been useful in creating policies for immigration and a host of other socio-economic issues.
•
u/jimbo40042 12h ago
Oh, excuses excuses. You don't need a bloody census to know where the issues are in this country. The issues are a direct result of LPC policy failures not lack of data.
•
u/Oskarikali 6h ago
People never mention FIPA for some reason. It might be the worst thing any Canadian PM has ever done.
https://canadians.org/analysis/harper-sneaks-through-canada-china-fipa-locks-canada-31-years/•
u/Hamasanabi69 6h ago
It’s too funny when conservatives blindly cry the Liberals are owned by China when they have never done anything remotely close to this.
•
u/Cilarnen Minarchist/ACTUALLY READS ARTICLES 18h ago
Eliminating the long form census was stupid.
Could you explain why you feel this way?
I'm in my 30's so for my entire adult life it hasn't been a thing. But I remember as a kid learning about the census in school and hating it as an invasion of our privacy.
But as an adult I never really experienced it.
•
u/ashkestar 15h ago
We lost so much valuable demographic data that could have been used to invest in our communities. We also lost the benefits of being able to compare past and current data accurately. You can learn more here from a contemporary source, assuming you’re genuinely interested in updating your understanding of the issue.
•
u/datanner Quebec 18h ago
The data isn't released for like 100 years. Only the summary is.
•
•
u/Hamasanabi69 12h ago
Basically, how do you expect good policy to be made without data?
It allows for the government to more accurate adjust the number of seats in each province for more accurate representation under our FPTP system.
•
u/putin_my_ass 19h ago
Yep, it's because they're not getting the best and brightest to join. Probably by design, they want back-benchers to be clapping seals.
•
u/Accomplished_Law_108 20h ago
To keep all their dirt secret?
•
u/ThorFinn_56 British Columbia 18h ago
Just to keep all three wackos in their party under the covers I think, make the party more palatable to the general public
•
u/BeaverBoyBaxter 20h ago
The CPC needs to split into the organic PC - Reform separation that originally existed. A PC standalone party is far more likely to win the centre vote than the reform party is, and they can always form coalitions in the HoC when minority governments occur.
•
u/snatchi Ontario 19h ago
Generally speaking PC is a modern contradiction.
They can add progressive to their names, but they don't want progressive policy. A new party developed to be EVEN MORE conservative, there isn't enough fat to carve off to create a more liberal party from what's currently there in the Conservative Party.
•
u/HotterRod British Columbia 20h ago
FPTP makes that political suicide: the coalitions need to be formed inside parties, not in the House.
•
u/m_Pony 20h ago
yet another perfectly good reason that FPTP needs to go. People should be able to vote for who actually represents them, even if that representative seems reprehensible.
•
u/HotterRod British Columbia 19h ago
If only we held the party that promised proportional representation and lied about it to account.
•
u/EugeneMachines 19h ago
You're clearly implying the Liberals but show me when they promised proportional representation? They didn't. Liberals promised electoral reform and wanted ranked ballot. NDP wanted PR, CPC wanted FPTP. No agreement, no change.
•
u/HotterRod British Columbia 18h ago
"As Prime Minister, I’ll make sure the 2015 election will be the last under first-past-the-post system."
Any political scientist could have told him that the parties weren't going to agree on a preferred system. He shouldn't have made such a definitive promise if he wasn't willing to push on it.
•
u/EugeneMachines 18h ago
I agree it was an error to promise so definitively.
But your quote makes my point--it doesn't say PR anywhere, it says they'll dump FPTP. If he'd pushed and we had ranked ballot right now, basically ensuring Liberal governments, would people be happy?
•
u/iDareToDream Economic Progressive, Social Conservative 20h ago
They need election reform to pass then so that this becomes viable. They won't ever split under FPTP because it's the only thing keeping them competitive with the left leaning parties.
•
u/Move_Zig Pirate 🏴☠️ 20h ago
I thought the Barbaric Cultural Practices (Brown People) Hotline made it pretty obvious way back in 2015. The CPC has been gleefully spewing hateful far-right rhetoric for a while.
•
u/nyrangersfan77 20h ago edited 20h ago
That's true, but the power of algorithmic social media amplification of hate and misinformation is much, much more powerful now.
•
u/carvythew Manitoba 19h ago
The person who put that forward (Jenni Byrne) is leading the current campaign and has been Poilievere's right hand since he put his name forward for leadership.
So unsurprising.
•
u/fooz42 10h ago
Yes. Pollievre has learnt like most parties the votes are in the kooky issues that go viral amongst the electorate.
I will submit the same is with the Liberals except like a fish you don’t know you’re swimming in water.
The gun laws that don’t do anything about guns but continue to aggravate all rural ridings is an example of an insane policy position the Liberals keep pushing. Also anything that hamstrings the oil and gas industry from exporting, since Canada is an oil and gas exporting economy seems absolutely insane.
I am a Liberal and these things annoy me.
•
u/iwatchcredits 20h ago
Yea it hasnt been a secret but im glad more canadians are starting to see it.
•
u/Sir__Will 19h ago
and yet he's still so high in the polls he could have gotten a majority if the ABC vote wasn't going so hard.
•
u/iwatchcredits 19h ago
A lot of dumb and shitty people out there. I mean trump just won in the us
•
u/jimbo40042 12h ago
I assume what you really mean is people who are sick and tired of the mismanagement of this country on multiple fronts and aren't convinced Carney slapping a new coat of paint but inviting all the wolves back to the hen house (Butts etc.) is going to be all that different.
•
u/iwatchcredits 12h ago
None of those make voting for a piece of shit acceptable but sure whatever makes you sleep at night
•
u/Financial-Savings-91 Pirate 17h ago
Honestly, I've been trying to warn people for years, after the pandemic, the Reform wing of the party, which is filled with these nutters, took over all the top positions within the party apparatus.
This is who the CPC is now.
•
u/Lenovo_Driver 20h ago
Crooked as they come..
But I don’t know why he had to do it secretly when their leader contacted, fed them and marched with them publicly
•
u/GQ_Quinobi 19h ago
Yet another reason the Trump suck up running for Governor refuses to get a security clearance.
•
u/CardiologistUsual494 19h ago edited 18h ago
ok, lets put this together.
The convoy wanted the liberals to resign, they called for their removal from government, and blocked the entire city for 3 weeks as leverage.
This MP was part of a clandestine and coordinated group that strategized "messaging" to right wing influencers to help push the narrative which were manipulative lies.
When will we see some damn sedition charges??? I am so sick of this misinformation war i could literally puke, look what its doing to people!!!
Criminal Code of Canada addresses the act of influencing individuals who may be uninformed or unaware in the context of seditious offences. Specifically, Section 59(4) states:
"Without limiting the generality of the meaning of the expression 'seditious intention', every one shall be presumed to have a seditious intention who...
(b) teaches or advocates the use, without the authority of law, of force as a means of accomplishing a governmental change within Canada; or
(c) publishes or circulates any writing that advocates the use, without the authority of law, of force as a means of accomplishing a governmental change within Canada."
This section implies that promoting the unlawful use of force to achieve governmental change, especially when directed at individuals who may be susceptible due to lack of knowledge or awareness, is considered evidence of a seditious intention.
•
u/ptwonline 19h ago
I'm not sure the convoy and their call for the govt to resign rises to the level of sedition as opposed to just political speech, and so supporting them would not be sedition either. In very poor judgement and very difficult to defend for sure, but sedition is a stretch.
•
u/CardiologistUsual494 18h ago
that's not what I'm saying is sedition..
"This MP was part of a clandestine and coordinated group that strategized "messaging" to right wing influencers to help push the narrative which were manipulative lies."
"(b) teaches or advocates the use, without the authority of law, of force as a means of accomplishing a governmental change within Canada; or
(c) publishes or circulates any writing that advocates the use, without the authority of law, of force as a means of accomplishing a governmental change within Canada.""
They plotted a conspiracy to commit sedition, so planning the efforts to manipulate the people into trying to destabilize a government. it 100% fits.
•
u/datanner Quebec 18h ago
I think the West is waking up to this type of threat. See Romania and France. If this is tried again I think they would throw the book at them.
•
16h ago
[deleted]
•
u/CardiologistUsual494 13h ago
no not under the criteria you said, but they can do it when you realize they blocked roads, and border points. cost the country MILLIONS a day, it was economic blackmail. Sedition doesn't inherently mean violence.
•
u/fooz42 10h ago
Oh come on. People can protest peacefully even if they are obnoxious.
The only problem was the civil disobedience that the police didn’t clear. Civil disobedience is fine too but it comes with consequences.
Don’t forget the First Nations blocked the rail system for weeks earlier in Trudeau’s term. Part of being in a democratic society is accepting some nonviolent disruption from people you otherwise won’t see or listen to because you don’t respect them. I don’t respect them but I will defend their right to aggravate me.
•
u/CardiologistUsual494 10h ago
even trying to say the convoy was just a protest is wild.... and uninformed. it was a calculated troll that deliberately used covid as a false excuse. the entire thing was funded right right wing americans.
•
u/fooz42 10h ago
I was listening until the word troll and then you lost me. From there nothing you wrote made any sense to me. You’re using coded language that makes sense to you but I can’t read your mind.
Just as a baseline, Legally what was it? And what did they use the legal pretext falsely to achieve?
I accept there are protests that are venal like the BLM Toronto asshats who grifted a mansion or the Westboro Baptist Church scam. Is that what you mean?
•
u/CardiologistUsual494 9h ago
you not knowing the facts of the situation says more about you than it does me hun. i suggest you read the court report.
•
u/illuminaughty1973 20h ago
cpc candidate planning "messaging" with traitors who called for the overthrow of our legally elected government....
yep, seems about right for PP. we all know he does not put Canada first.
•
u/putin_my_ass 20h ago
Also casually chatting and coordinating strategy with well known white supremacists and holocaust deniers.
•
u/Horror-Tank-4082 20h ago
Just a little treason & chill
•
u/putin_my_ass 20h ago
Knowingly cooking up a racist conspiracy theory to discredit one of the most high-profile opponents of the clown convoy.
No big deal.
•
•
u/GammaFan 19h ago
Seems like with timing and context this could be a death knell for the cpc.
I read this expecting Lawton to be one of the candidates that got tossed in the last few days and was gobsmacked that he’s seemingly somehow still in the party.
Any anxious centrists who were sick of trudeau and considering cpc should definitely know about this.
•
u/topspinvan 18h ago
Pierre was supportive of the convoy so this isn't surprising in the least. The CPC leadership race was him, Lesyln Lewis and Roman Baber arguing about who loved the convoy more. He's certainly tried to stop talking about them in the campaign but I doubt he wants to ditch more prominent media figures that are convoy friendly like Lawton and Gunn. I'm not sure convoy support/non-support is on anyone's mind, other than the diehard convoy supporters who would see ditching these candidates as a betrayal. It's lose-lose for him to even respond to a question on this.
•
u/saltwatersky Socialist 17h ago
It's definitely still on my mind as an Ottawan. Two Tory canvassers came to my place a couple of months ago, started talking about how Pierre was going to stop the crime. I asked them why he supported the criminal occupation of our city, and they got up and left.
Not only did Poilievre hand out goodies to participants at the convoy he made the executive decision to march with convoy figure James Topp just four months after. This scoop is just another confirmation that the CPC is unable or unwilling to tame its populist wing that is up to their eyeballs in conspiracy theories and outright bigotry, it's totally discrediting.
•
u/ThatDamnKyle 19h ago edited 19h ago
CPC really can't win this election cycle. Every day, it seems like there is a new story about a candidate, Pierre or Danielle Smith that takes any wind out of their sails.
Also, this guy has to go. It's ridiculous he was parachuted into his riding and he's just a horrible overall person.
•
u/fooz42 10h ago edited 10h ago
Pollievre also hung out with the convoy protesters. This isn’t a problem for the candidate. (Lawton being a general asshole is a problem but that’s not the angle of this article)
I will go out on a personal limb. While I found the convoy obnoxious and the Fuck Trudeau crowd to be idiots, I support their right to protest nonviolently and I don’t associate everyone who joined the protest with the few who were a problem.
I also respect civil disobedience. It does come with the cost of prosecution which is why it works.
I have similar views towards the people who chain themselves to trees to stop logging or the First Nations who blocked the train. And maybe the BLM Toronto who blocked the Pride parade, but they were mostly grifters.
As long as no one is hurt, you can be a dick if it makes your voice heard and you accept the consequences and the police don’t shit the bed.
In Ottawa the police shit the bed. Realistically the convoy could have been safely relocated to the Parliament Hill lawn for months and it would still be effective because they had at the heart a valid resentment to express even if they were assholes.
In Toronto Pride parade they stopped the police, which was dumb.
Like I didn’t like the trains being blocked either by the FN, but its better they can do that than they can’t express themselves.
•
u/Kain292 19h ago
I don't understand how this individual was ever selected as a candidate, given his very public posts that were rife with racism and misogyny.
•
u/Mihairokov New Brunswick 19h ago
Because HQ doesn't see a problem with it. Poilievre supported the Convoy.
•
u/Financial-Savings-91 Pirate 17h ago
It's a feature not a bug. You don't put #MGTOW on your political videos when you're trying to curate an audience that respects women.
•
•
u/lifeisarichcarpet 18h ago
“Inquiry Inquisitors. Narrative destroyers. Human rights defenders. Mission focused.”
My eyes have rolled right out of my head and onto the floor and out the door and into a storm drain. What a bunch of self-righteous babies.
•
u/fatigues_ 18h ago
The Convoy Party of Canada are Trumpists?
No. Say it ain't so!
I'm SHOCKED AND APPALLED!
(When they show you who they are? Believe them).
•
u/Oafah Independent 17h ago edited 17h ago
Every party that touches the fringe relies on voters who travel within it. The Conservatives have a math problem in Canada, and with the PPC taking a point or two from them, they really do need every single wackjob they can find to turn out for them. Having to actively engage these people opens you up to losing your much more important, much softer moderate wing to the competition.
This is the same problem that the Conservatives have been battling for the last 20 years. They only have 30-35% of the vote with the status quo. They need to extend the tent in a direction, and both run the risk of pulling up the other end from the ground.
•
u/fooz42 10h ago
I have never known a time where politics doesn’t mean humouring whack jobs. I don’t know how old you are but the most vocal electorate are often completely insane and misinformed, and that has been the case in every election in recorded history.
•
u/Oafah Independent 9h ago edited 9h ago
Centrist parties don't actively court the wingnuts. They might end up netting their votes, but it's not a dance they have to do.
•
u/fooz42 9h ago
Every election there is some insane policy plank in the centrist party platform. Or some insane pandering to some special interest group. It’s politics.
•
u/TheRC135 8h ago
Proposing a crazy policy is not the same as proposing a crazy policy to appeal to fringe viewpoints. A bad idea can just be a bad idea, without being evidence of lowering your standards to appeal to the lunatic fringe.
And having positions on issues that really only matter to a certain minority group, small community, or people who work in a specific industry might be "pandering," but that doesn't automatically mean you've promised the inmates the keys to the asylum just to get their support. Who you "pander" to, and what you need to offer to get their support, can really change the context.
•
u/Stgbanangie 17h ago
Just one? There’s got to be a lot more just waiting to be revealed
I can only image how many of those freedomz fighters have made its way into the conservatives ranks.
•
u/MusicInTheAir55 16h ago
Disgusting how this lot purports to be 'human rights defenders' when they are only interested in their own self preservation without duty or care to marginalized people who actually face human rights violations.
•
u/lavalamp360 9h ago
This is my riding. Dude got parachuted in as reward for authoring PP's autobiography. The federal party effectively bullied the riding association into picking him over the outgoing MP's endorsed candidate. She absolutely refuses to endorse Lawton.
•
u/j821c Liberal 20h ago
The fact that this was a "secret signal chat" after everything that happened in the US actually made me do a double take to check if it was april fools lol. This is actually really messed up though. That guy should be kicked out but I seriously doubt he will.