Conservatives need to convince Canadians that they are centrist enough to be trusted in government. But linking themselves to the likes of Tucker Carlson and Jordan Peterson will not reinforce that sentiment.

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on January 29, 2024.

OTTAWA—He was too toxic for Fox News. But Tucker Carlson was welcomed with open arms by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith last week.

The pair enjoyed a private dinner before they shared the stage at a sold-out Carlson appearance.

The premier featured in a photo with two other Carlson wannabees: Conrad Black and Jordan Peterson.

Carlson was in the province for two speaking events, engaging 4,000 attendees in Calgary and 8,000 in Edmonton.

Carlson, who spent the fall on tour to countries governed by extreme right-wingers, told the media he was coming to Canada to liberate the country from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

While Carlson attracted thousands of people to his events, more than 17,000 people signed a petition calling for the cancellation of those appearances because of his hate speech against the LGBTQ+ community.

Carlson has also spoken out vociferously against support for Ukraine against the Russian invasion.

Carlson says he would rather liberate Canada from Trudeau than liberate Ukraine. He has compared the Canadian prime minister to Hitler, and said Canada was turning into a totalitarian state because of its legalization of medically-assisted deaths.

Since the MAID legislation was introduced in 2016, almost 45,000 medically assisted deaths have been recorded in Canada, much to the chagrin of Carlson, who claimed that these deaths were evidence that Canada was slipping into totalitarianism.

While Carlson and Smith were linking arms on issues like their opposition to COVID vaccinations, the federal Liberals were meeting in caucus to figure out how they may be able to dig themselves out of their political hole.

Trips like that of Carlson are fodder for Liberal strategists who think the way to beat Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is to link his party to the Trumpian-inspired anti-government movement in the United States.

Like Carlson, Poilievre refused to fund war assistance for Ukraine, calling it a faraway foreign land when they voted against financial assistance in the House.

Like Carlson, Conservative Members of Parliament such as Leslyn Lewis are calling for Canada to drop out of the United Nations.

Conservatives need to convince Canadians that they are centrist enough to be trusted in government. But linking themselves to the likes of Tucker Carlson and Jordan Peterson will not reinforce that sentiment.

Peterson was another speaker at the Carlson roadshow. He was listed as an author.

Peterson has failed to meet professional standards in psychology, and has been required to undergo social media communication coaching.

In refusing to do so, Peterson went to court, but his appeal was denied by a three-judge divisional panel in August. Their decision was recently upheld by the Ontario Court of Appeals, and refusal to comply means Peterson will soon lose his right to practise.

Peterson teaches that chaos is a feminine trait, and that “confused gay kids are being convinced they’re transsexual.”

Peterson says women’s studies should be banned from university, and claims that the pay gap between women and men could be “predicated on competence.”

Peterson says the rise of Donald Trump is a response to a collective push to “feminize” men, claiming that if men are pushed too hard, they will become more and more interested in fascist ideology.

Poilievre has been promoting the defence of Peterson on X (formerly Twitter).

At the same time that the Conservative leader attacks “woke Liberal-NDP mayors,” he defends Peterson’s decision to ignore a court order on his professional misconduct charges.

Before Carlson appeared on the stage with Smith last week, he joined a webinar with Peterson and Canadian businessman Brett Wilson.

Liberals were quick to tie Poilievre to the Tucker event, with Edmonton Centre Member of Parliament and minister Randy Boissonnault leading the charge.

Boissonnault, a gay MP, said Carlson’s appearance in his riding in downtown Edmonton had caused a lot of fear in the LGBTQ+ community.

Boissonnault was joined by fellow ministers Pascale St-Onge, Pablo Rodriguez, and Steven Guilbeault in Ottawa last week. They all called on Poilievre to denounce the presence of Carlson, and make it clear that his caucus is not aligning their views with those of Smith and Carlson.

The Carlson appearance was limited to Alberta, and chances are he may not be invited elsewhere in Canada as he continually referred to Toronto as an “atrocity,” a great crowd-pleaser.

He laughed at gays and defended white anglos who are being undermined in Canada.

The decision by the Alberta premier to invite Carlson will certainly provide political fodder to those who question what kind of Canada conservatives really want.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.

By SHEILA COPPS

First published on Monday, August 21, 2017 in The Hill Times.

OTTAWA—The northward drift of the American alt-right may have been stopped in its tracks in the aftermath of Charlottesville last week. Or it may actually be energized by the post-Charlottesville fallout.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer announced Thursday that he would no longer give interviews to self-stylized right-wing online presence, Rebel Media, after it provided positive coverage and streamed live images of neo-fascist, Nazi-chanting Virginia marchers.

In normal times, a quarter of the Conservative caucus has been interviewed by The Rebel, with a YouTube audience of 400,000. Scheer was a regular until his disavowal last week.

Rebel’s troubles began when a contributor, covering the event in Charlottesville, retweeted insinuations that the murderous white supremacist driver who is alleged to have killed one person with his car, may have been provoked because anti-racism protesters who hit the speeding vehicle before it ploughed into the crowd.

Rebel co-founder and former Sun Media journalist Brian Lilley exited the online news organization days before Scheer’s declaration, claiming the outlet suffers from a “lack of editorial and behavioural judgment that left unchecked will destroy it and those around it.”

With the departure of Lilley, and the Charlottesville fallout, Scheer had no choice but to publicly cut ties with The Rebel.

Lilley posted his leave-taking notice on Facebook, linking co-founder Ezra Levant with the alt-right movement in his comments.

“I was never enamoured by the ‘alt-right,’ never saw the appeal but I take Ezra at his word when he describes his evolution. But just as he has evolved, just as The Rebel has evolved, so have I and the uncomfortable dance that I have been doing for some time now must come to an end. … As a serious journalist with nearly 20 years’ experience at the highest levels in this country, and abroad, I cannot be a part of this.”

Lilley bluntly went much further: “I am not comfortable being associated with a group that, rightly or wrongly, is being increasingly viewed as associated with the likes of Richard Spencer. Like many of you, I had family that fought the Nazis, I never want to be in the same room as one. I am also not comfortable with the increasingly harsh tone taken on issues like immigration, or Islam. There are ways to disagree on policy without resorting to us versus them rhetoric.”

In attempting to tone down The Rebel backlash, Levant issued a statement claiming that “the alt-right is, in my mind—the mirror image of Black Lives Matter.”

His statement was eerily similar to the declaration of American President Donald Trump, who shocked the world by claiming that “very fine people” on both sides were undermined by a few bad people in both the alt-right and, in Trump’s words, the “alt-left.”

Most Tory caucus members will likely follow their leader in finally refusing to do interviews with The Rebel.

Earlier in the week, in a CBC interview, Conservative analyst Rick Anderson confirmed that 75 per cent of the caucus is already declined invitations.

But Conservative MPs who were dancing with the The Rebel, including the leader, depend on religious conservatives for their electoral base. Scheer himself courted that cohort in his successful bid to overtake libertarian Max Bernier for the Tory leadership.

Former Stephen Harper aide Hamish Marshall, who managed Scheer’s leadership campaign, served until recently as a director of Rebel News.

Scheer’s unexpected win was predicated on courting the sizeable right-wing contingent in his caucus, the group that until last week were key to Rebel messaging.

Within the Tories, a group concerned by the current right wing drift of the party has been meeting secretly to consider alternatives.

Meanwhile, emboldened racists are demonstrating across Canada too. An anti-Muslim rally in Calgary last month was to be followed by an anti-immigrant Vancouver gathering in front of city hall last Saturday.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson decried the event but said he was powerless to stop it because of laws governing free speech. Both events were organized by anti-Muslim groups seeking a return to “European-based” immigration.

The University of Toronto is attempting to halt a similar Sept. 14 rally. University officials say the event will not be allowed on campus, but organizers are still advertising it, without citing a specific location.

During his leadership, Scheer vowed to cut funding from universities that do not permit “free speech” on campus.

When mid-September rolls around, the Tory leader may have to revisit that pledge.

Unlike Donald Trump, Scheer won’t get away with playing both sides of this story.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.