Thread by @DFLamont

Since @erinotoole has invited Liberals to show Conservatives’ connections to the US far right, here are 25 tweets doing so. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (1/25).

There are only a couple of degrees of separation between some Conservative politicians in Canada and the extreme right, because of The Rebel & Hamish Marshall who worked for Stephen Harper, Andrew Scheer, and the Manitoba PCs. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (2/25)

Canadian conservatives have been taking policy and tactics from U.S. republicans for many years. After the success of Fox News in the US, Conservatives tried to create “Sun TV,” then modelled “Rebel Media” on Breitbart. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (3/25)

For years, The Rebel has been weaponizing & inciting hate for profit and political gain without care for the consequences. It is a global source of radical right-wing hate - its ties with conservative politicians across Canada are deep and long-standing. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (4/25)

From 2015 to 2017, Hamish Marshall was one of 3 board members for The Rebel, the far-right propaganda outlet helmed by Ezra Levant. Marshall was a consultant on the PCs 2016 election campaign, and his company, Torch, built the PCs current website. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (5/25)

The Rebel’s correspondents have included: Gavin McInnes, who founded the Proud Boys in 2016, a far-right militia group that has been part of running street violence in the U.S. for months. #mbpoli #cdnpoli bit.ly/3qxKcVJ (6/25)

McInnes grew up in Ottawa & founded Vice Magazine with a government grant. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (7/25)

theguardian.com/media/2008/mar…

McInnes left Vice in 2008. After a failed attempt at shock comedy, McInnes drifted as a correspondent for a series of far-right outlets. As a Rebel Media correspondent, McInnes posted a video called “Ten things I hate about Jews.” #mbpoli #cdnpoli haaretz.com/us-news/vice-c… (8/25)

McInnes was at the storming of the U.S. Capitol. In December, Proud Boys in Washington, DC were wearing shirts that read “6MWE” - Six Million Wasn’t Enough, suggesting that even more Jews should have been killed in the Holocaust. #mbpoli #cdnpoli adl.org/blog/proud-boy… (9/25)

Another Rebel flack was Faith Goldy, whose screeds drew condemnation when she attended a “Unite the Right” Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia where white supremacists struck and killed a peaceful protestor. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (10/25) thestar.com/news/canada/20…

Goldy gave an interview with a neo-nazi website Stormfront & was fired from the Rebel. She returned at a “United we Roll” rally where CPC Sen. David Tkachuk said truckers should “roll over every Liberal left in the country.” #mbpoli #cdnpoli cbc.ca/news/politics/… (11/25)

Keean Bexte promoted the “Yellow Vests Convoy” in Ottawa. Bexte was a recruiter for the Manning Centre for Democracy & Staffer for a CPC Alberta MP & called for ending birthright citizenship in Canada at a CPC policy convention. #mbpoli #cdnpoli huffingtonpost.ca/2018/08/25/con… (12/25)

Bexte ran “FireForce Ventures” a website that sold Rhodesian military paraphernalia from a time when Zimbabwe was ruled by a white supremacist government. #mbpoli #cdnpoli ricochet.media/en/2422/rebel-… (13/25)

Bexte’s FireForce partners included Canadian Military & another CPC staffer, Adam Strashok. Strashok ran Jason Kenney’s call centre during his United Conservative Party leadership run. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (14/25)

ricochet.media/en/2394/meet-t…

Other Rebel correspondents include Katie Hopkins, banned by multiple platforms for hate, but hired by The Rebel; Tommy Robinson, a far-right convicted criminal and from the UK. #mbpoli #cdnpoli cnn.com/2019/07/11/uk/… (15/25)

The Rebel’s conservative connections are deep. In the 1990s and 2000s, Ezra Levant worked with a who’s-who of conservatives: Preston Manning, David Frum, Stockwell Day. He gave up his nomination for a by-election in 2002 so Stephen Harper could run. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (16/25)

Levant was successfully sued on a number of occasions. He had to apologize for defaming George Soros in a column for the Sun newspapers; in another case, a court found that Levant “spoke in reckless disregard of the truth.” #mbpoli #cdnpoli torontolife.com/city/george-so… (17/25)

The 2011, CPC platform pledged to strip out hate speech provisions of Canada’s Human Rights Code, and a private member’s bill did that. Then-Minister for Public Safety, Vic Toews, praised the bill. So did neo-nazis. #mbpoli #cdnpoli huffingtonpost.ca/2012/06/08/bil… (18/25)

Levant worked for Sun TV, which was headed up by Korey Teneycke - Stephen Harper’s D. Comms. Teneycke maintained close contacts with Levant, mediating a dispute between Levant and a UK correspondent. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (19/25) globalnews.ca/news/3680438/a…

Last year former CPC leader Scheer referred to a conspiracy theory about a UN agreement b/w countries to deal with the refugee crisis. So did Danielle Smith. The conspiracy theory was that it would make criticizing Islam a crime. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (20/25)

cbc.ca/news/politics/…

Pierre Poilievre was tweeting about the “Great Reset” which has a theory attached that if you refuse to get a vaccine, you will be thrown in jail. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (21/25) cbc.ca/news/politics/…

Some Canadian Conservatives have been embracing the same far-right tactics to manipulate voters as extremists in the States: misinformation, false accusations, conspiracy theories, and radicalizing their own supporters by demonizing their opponents. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (22/25)

It’s clear that when people died in the Washington Coup last week, politicians who incited the crowd were stunned to find out people believed their lies. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (23/25)

We need a shared reality to agree on. The extremists in the Conservative party are not just at its fringes, and even if they don't believe the extremists - they still pander to them. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (24/25)

Despite all this - there are plenty of principled, smart, kind conservatives who aren’t like this and don’t buy into it. Same thing with the NDP, Liberals & Greens. I added links above to provide evidence. It is not true of everyone. We can all be better. #mbpoli #cdnpoli (25/25)