Wearing a crisp blue shirt and a politician’s smile, he approached a group of anti-vaccine protesters and led the group as they walked through the streets of Ottawa. Next to him marched a man named James Topp, an anti-vaccine figure now facing a court-martial, who had been walking across the country to draw attention to his opposition to vaccine mandates. Topp, however, had recently sat on a podcast hosted by far-right leader Jeremy Mackenzie for more than an hour, saying the podcast and others like it “kept him.” Mackenzie said in January that the Freedom Accord, which in Ottawa in February, could “bring down the government.” “I want to be there. I want to see it happen,” Mackenzie said in a YouTube broadcast at the time.
Read more: Poilievre leads protest convoy march alongside man with far-right extremist links
It’s unclear why Poilievre “felt he had to” meet with Topp, said Stephanie Carvin, a former CSIS analyst who now teaches at Carleton University. “But it was certainly a choice with consequences,” he said — including, potentially, emboldening and legitimizing the most extreme views among the convoy’s supporters.
Flirting with the far right
Politicians around the world have increasingly played with far-right movements and principles in recent years, from spreading baseless conspiracies about the World Economic Forum to boosting populist ideas from the fringes of society for political gain. But as this tactic becomes more popular, experts are beginning to worry about the influence politicians could have in legitimizing extreme ideas. “They seem to be playing this culture war knowingly,” Evan Balgord, executive director of the Canadian Network Against Hate, told Global News in an interview. For Balgord, what Poilievre chose to do on June 30 “wasn’t a surprise.” “He was positioning himself to win far-right support in his leadership race.” It is not the first time Conservative leadership candidates have attempted to support the march, which was declared an illegal protest in February, shortly after Global News reported that some of its organizers had documented links to extremism and racism. During a recent debate, candidate Leslyn Lewis — who also met with Topp as he arrived in Ottawa for Canada Day — argued with Poilievre over who supported the convoy first. Conservative leadership candidate Leslyn Lewis talks about leadership candidates Pierre Poilievre as Jean Charest and Scott Aitchison look on during a debate at the Canada Strong and Free Network conference, in Ottawa, Thursday, May 5, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld . THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld While Poilievre insisted he “has stood up for freedom from the beginning,” Lewis pushed back, saying “that’s not true.” “You did not speak until it was convenient for you to speak. You didn’t even go to the trucker’s protest. You actually went and took a picture in your neighborhood at a local stop,” he replied, according to The Globe and Mail. Poilievre said he did show up to support the convoy, but Lewis replied that he “only” did so when it was popular. By the time this debate took place, many of the so-called “Freedom Accord” organizers’ ties to white nationalism and racism had been widely publicized. Hundreds of criminal charges had been brought against participants, as well as organizers, following an unprecedented police operation to crack down on what law enforcement has repeatedly called an “occupation”.
Read more: Some truck rally organizers have history of white nationalism, racism
BJ Dichter, one of the organizers of a GoFundMe account supporting the convoy, claimed during a speech at the 2019 People’s Party of Canada conference that Canada was facing the danger of “political Islamists” and said the Liberal Party is ” tainted with Islamists.” Jason LaFace – who occasionally goes by the name “LaFaci” – was listed as the Northern and Eastern Ontario organizer for the online escort and had been listed in other media as the lead organizer for Ontario. According to a screenshot obtained by Global News in January, which was dated April 4, LaFace posted a selfie wearing a hat with the initials SOO, believed to represent the Soldiers of Odin – an anti-immigrant group. first established in Finland. Pat King, another prominent escort supporter, posted a video sharing a racist conspiracy theory. In the video, he hinted at a plan to “devastate the Anglo-Saxon race because they are the ones with the strongest bloodlines.” This conspiracy theory is known as the “racial replacement theory” and is believed to be a driving factor in the supermarket shooting that killed 10 people in Buffalo, New York, in May — the same month as the Conservative leadership debate. The convoy’s ties to the far right did not end in February — and neither did the movement’s support from some mainstream politicians. On June 22, a group of Conservative MPs, including leadership candidates Leslyn Lewis, Jeremy Patzer, Ryan Williams, Arnold Viersen and Dean Allison — among others — met with key figures in the entourage. Patcher told them they had “allies” in Ottawa. Global News reached out to all of those lawmakers for comment, but only Williams and Viersen responded by press time. Williams said he “only met with James Topp that day” and “does not condone radical or racist ideas or movements.” “I support James and his stance against mandatory vaccine mandates. Of course I condemn white supremacy, all hatred, racism and intolerance. All MPs do it. No one in the Parliamentary Group supports intolerance, bigotry, violence or extreme views.” Viersen said “many” of his constituents have reached out and asked him to meet with Topp. “He is walking across Canada to give a voice to Canadians who are frustrated by the ongoing COVID orders and restrictions on their freedom. I respect his efforts to defend the rights and freedoms of all Canadians.” He added that he supported Mr Top’s efforts “to express his disagreement with the government and he did so in a peaceful and legal manner”. Viersen concluded his statement by adding that he was “disgusted” by Global News’ question, which asked if he would condemn white supremacy. “It’s a loaded question that gives the premise. I have worked hard to stand up for vulnerable and marginalized people across Canada,” he said. Carvin, meanwhile, pointed out that “many of the conservative candidates” have joined the escort movement. “It’s important to emphasize that it’s not just (Poilievre),” Carvin said. Going forward, he added, it will be interesting to see the “tactics” of the convoy. “Will you see, from this, an attempt to become a real political movement? Or… is it something like a fun jamboree for a bunch of people who are otherwise rejected by their families to get together once every few months? Because these are very, very different things.”
Read more: ‘You have allies’: Tory MPs welcome convoy figures warn of deep divisions in Canada
The People’s Party of Canada had a significant presence at the convoy protests, Carvin said — with leader Maxime Bernier even giving a speech at a small event. Derek Sloan, a former Conservative MP and current leader of the Ontario Party — who has questioned the safety of COVID-19 vaccines and supported a parliamentary petition that referred to vaccines as “effective human experimentation” — also marched alongside Topp . A month before Topp made headlines with politicians in Ottawa, he appeared on far-right activist Jeremy Mackenzie’s podcast. Mackenzie, who was arrested on firearms charges in February, was part of a controversial January YouTube broadcast. During this video, he appears to claim the entourage could “bring down the government” as his co-hosts told him they “think we should gather at the gallows in Parliament”. “I want to be there. I want to see this happen,” Mackenzie is seen saying on the show. These are screenshots I took before the last convoy in Ottawa. You can see Jeremy Mackenzie and his friends here, in their own words. 1: in which they call the convoy to bring down the government pic.twitter.com/VZFxspO50s — Rachel Gilmore (@atRachelGilmore) June 30, 2022 In video footage of the June 30 march, Paul Alexander, a former administration official of US President Donald Trump, can also be seen walking right behind Poilievre. Alexander came under fire in 2020 when an email he wrote on July 4 was made public. In it, Alexander said he wants “infants, children, teenagers, youth, young adults, middle-aged people without conditions” to be “infected” with COVID-19 to help “develop herd (immunity). Poilievre is seen shaking Alexander’s hand during the march.
Poilievre defends support for convoy
Global News contacted nine former Conservative MPs, generals and former staff to ask their thoughts on party members linking up with people linked to the far right. However, over the course of two days, no one agreed to be interviewed. In a statement sent to Global News, Poilievre’s spokesman Anthony Koch responded to a request for comment by calling questions about Poilievre’s involvement with Topp “disingenuous trappings” and “unprofessional.” The campaign did not immediately respond to any of the questions put to them. Instead, Koch said asking questions about who Poilievre is dating feels like “guilt by multiple degrees of separation” and offered 283…
