Tour by German fascist exposes rot at heart of Tory Party

Christine Anderson is a notorious and vocal member of European Parliament. She is infamous for her extreme, hate-fuelled attacks on immigrants, Muslims, People of Colour, LGBTQ and Trans people. She excels in using anti-vaccine conspiracy theories to draw disgruntled people into the orbit of the far right. In short, she is the template for the rising fascist movement.

 

She has been visiting Canada, speaking to far-right groups and meeting with extremists, because the lamentable success of the convoy movement has revealed Canada to be a fertile recruiting ground for white supremacists and fascists. This an international movement intentionally trying to nurture like-minded groups.

 

Reflecting the recent shift in tactics of these far-right groups, from targeting public health to attacking Trans rights and LGBTQ events, she frequently speaks “in defence of the family”, code for rolling back human rights victories won over the past 50 years. She went out of her way to support and endorse the far-right attacks on Drag Queen Story Time that have become common across Canada. 

 

It comes as no surprise she was pictured meeting with members of the Diagolon militia group, giving the fascist salute. She stopped in Calgary to meet leaders of the convoy occupation like Tamara Lich. She was given star status on Ezra Levant’s Rebel News.  Nor is it surprising to see her together with Maxime Bernier, head of the far-right PPC. Bernier gushed in a tweet how excited he was to meet “the legendary [Christine Anderson] with PPC supporters in Montreal.”

 

More disturbing is a photo of Anderson arm-in-arm with three Ontario Conservative MPs and a room full of Tory staffers. The three are Leslyn Lewis, Colin Carrie and Dean Allison. All were vocal critics of mandated public health measures during the pandemic and supporters of the convoy occupation of Ottawa last winter.

 

Two-faced Tories

 

When the photo hit the press, and outrage grew, alarm bells went off at Conservative Party HQ and its branch office at the Sun newspaper. Pierre Poilievre had been doing all he could to distract from and downplay his party’s collusion with the month-long Ottawa occupation. In the lead-up to the next federal election the Tory leadership was doing all it could to hide the far-right extremists in its ranks. 

 

Then along comes a prominent Euro-Nazi and they all come tumbling out of the woodwork.

 

Poilievre’s office issued a ridiculous statement, claiming: “We were not aware of the views or associations of her and her political party. We do not share or endorse her views and strongly condemn any views that are racist or hateful.”

 

When this was met with a combination of skepticism and derision, Poilievre’s spokesperson issued a sterner finger-wag/denial. “Christine Anderson's views are vile and have no place in our politics. The MPs were not aware of this visiting Member of the European Parliament's opinions, and they regret meeting with her. Frankly, it would be better if Anderson never visited Canada in the first place. She and her racist, hateful views are not welcome here.”

 

Obviously whipped into line by CPCHQ, the MPs have issued fawning apologies and declarations of ignorance about Anderson’s record.

 

In interviews Anderson has said she has spoken with Poilievre several times and liked him. Poilievre denies ever having spoken with her. Following the statement from his office, Anderson told Rebel News that she was “disappointed” in Poilievre and said he was “no better than Justin Trudeau.” That’s got to hurt.

 

The repeated claims that the 3 prominent right-wing MPs knew nothing about Anderson’s fascist affiliations – the politician Bernier described as “legendary” and who was widely quoted by Tories for attacking Trudeau’s handling of the pandemic and convoy–are simply ludicrous.

 

Far more likely is that fact that a large percentage of their voters and supporters lean to far-right ideology. Lewis in particular is a prominent Tory, having twice run for party leadership on a right-wing platform. If anything, she has tried to imitate Anderson’s rise to influence.

 

Events like this opportunistic fascist tour expose the rot within the Tory party and point-up Poilievre’s dilemma. The ranks of his party are full of extremists, but to break through electorally, beyond his prairie stronghold, Poilievre needs to put on a moderate front. 

 

If he comes down too hard on Anderson’s politics he is condemning his own supporters and risks driving them into the arms of the PPC, or worse, to the plethora of fascist splinter proliferating across the country. If he doesn’t he opens himself up for fresh attacks and ridicule from the mainstream.

 

It’s not easy being a lying, two-faced tory.