Thread by @kentcclark

Years ago, I warned that the homeless were the next target of the Canadian far-right. In this thread I am going to show the host of people and organizations that are part of this movement against the impoverished and addicted.

Warning: this will be long.

The first organization to know about is BC Proud. They're an offshoot of the same Canada Proud, founded by former Conservative Party staffer Jeff Ballingall.
torontolife.com/city/qa-jeff-b…

If you look at their Facebook page you will notice the standard far-right media, including anti-LGBTQ memes and support for people like Peterson.

But on the left hand side, you can see their page is managed by "Pacific Prosperity Network".

facebook.com/BCProud/

There are two figures connected to BC Proud. The first is their spokesman Aaron Gunn, who you might remember because even the BC Liberals said he was too far-right and toxic for them.
vancouversun.com/news/politics/…

He first made waves when he marched alongside the Soldiers of Odin against the removal of the John A Macdonald statue in Victoria.
pentictonwesternnews.com/news/protestor…

The second is Angelo Isidorou, director of the UBC free speech club, who first made waves as a board-member of the NPA when photos came out of him wearing a MAGA hat and doing a hand sign that, at the time, was being used by white supremacists as an identifier.

Angelo would later be kicked out of the party after it came out that he and Jeff Conaster were being paid by Pacific Prosperity Network to do political work with the party and run anti-homeless hate site Views of Vancouver.

biv.com/article/2022/0…

They also run "Take Back Alberta", the pro-Danielle Smith group in Alberta.

The next is Marshall Smith, the Chief of Staff to Danielle Smith.

Marshall got in hot water a few years back when it came out that his addiction recovery center was getting millions in tax payer money and paying that back by using recovery patients to provide free labour on BC Liberal campaigns.

vancouverisawesome.com/bc-news/invest…

He has since become the architect of Alberta's drug policy, and specifically their pull away from harm reduction.
thetyee.ca/Analysis/2022/…

Under Smith, Alberta commissioned a report panning safe supply. The report was written by 4 SFU researchers, including one Julian Somers. The report was not peer reviewed, heavily politicized, and kind of fizzled.

thetyee.ca/News/2022/05/0…

Back in Vancouver: in August, @JenStDen noticed Poilievre meeting with the VPD. Who is that face just to the right there?

Yes, it's Marshall Smith!

It seems that Polievre has been meeting with the VPU for some time, as he later tweets a thank you to VPU president Ralph Kaisers.

Soon after, Gunn and Isidorou throw their launch event for their film Vancouver is Dying and some familiar faces start showing up.

pressprogress.ca/right-wing-gro…

From the article above. Left to right, bottom image:

Julian Somers, SFU researcher. Ralf Kaiser, VPU president. Giuseppe Ganci(?) of Last Door recovery and Talk Recovery radio. Aaron Gunn, BC Proud. Angelo Isidorou, BC proud.

Not sure who the kid with the alt-right haircut is

Then in November Poilievre was back in BC again, this time using homelessness as a backdrop to his campaign and attacking safe supply:
pressprogress.ca/why-pierre-poi…

Shortly after, Polievre is back tweeting the NatPo, which is declaring that researchers who disagree with harm reduction are being repressed! It's bullshit, of course, but who pops up? Yes, it's Julian Somers.

Jordan Peterson even makes an appearance!

pressprogress.ca/the-national-p…

Thanks @Bambammon for letting us know about a retreat in Seattle attacking "housing first" approaches to ending homelessness.

Who do we see there?

Don't some of these faces look familiar? Left to right:

John Clerides of Marquis Wine Cellars who has recently been vocal about how Vancouver "doesn't take crime seriously".

To his right is Michael Shellenberger, a climate-disaster denier and far-right PR agent who has recently been pushing the message that progressivism creates homelessness, drug addiction and mental illness.

Next to him I don't recognize. But next to that guy, at the center of the photo is of course Marshall Smith!

Then a woman I don't know, the new chief of the Seattle PD, a guy I don't recognize and... yes that's Angelo Isidorou of BC Proud!

Next to him is ex-Vancouver council candidate Mauro Francis, and next to him... yes it's Guiseppe Ganci again!

Funny how all these people linked to BC Proud events are showing up in the US too. Almost as if these movements are connected.

There's good news though. These people's success relies on people being too ignorant of who they are to realize that they are taking lines from PR guys and propagandists. Don't let that happen. Tell everyone who they are.

I've since learned that the guy with the alt-right haircut (not a kid at all, but he looks amazing for his age) is Cody Hall of Last Door. He's here because he was part of the documentary Vancouver is Dying by Isidorou and Gunn.

I want to add to this, a HUGE thanks to the following accounts for providing information and helping identify some of the people in these photos:

@Bambammon
@jenstdenis
@kwardvancouver
@jamesgemmill
@bobmackin
@_llebrun and all the folks at @pressprogress

Oh and did I mention that Marshall is the ex-chair of the BC Recovery Council and ex BC Center for Substance Use? The political ties between all these organizations run deep.

More on this, which I didn't realize:

More reading on this:

@Bambammon @JenStDenis @kwardvancouver @jamesgemmill @bobmackin @_llebrun @pressprogress Im an idiot and keep mentioning @jenstdenis instead of @JenStDen. Ooops, sorry @JenStDen.

Thanks to some people who reached out, I managed to get the following two screenshots. Yes, PPN/BCProud is fundraising for Last Door.

This was also recently brought to my attention:

Also a shout out to @rumneeek over at @pressprogress for covering this much better than I could:
pressprogress.ca/recovery-indus…