EZRA LEVANT: Poilievre panics, throws his own MPs to the media wolves

Christine Anderson, a Member of the European Parliament from Germany, has been on tour in Canada this past week. Anderson went viral during the pandemic for her scorching speeches condemning Justin Trudeau’s heavy-handed lockdowns. Her support for the trucker convoy helped make that peaceful Canadian uprising an international sensation.

But this morning Liberal Party mud-slinger Warren Kinsella went to work, denouncing Anderson as a hate-monger, and smearing Conservative MPs photographed meeting with her, including former leadership candidate Leslyn Lewis. Kinsella’s hyperventilated attack was soon picked up by Brian Lilley, boyfriend of Doug Ford’s press secretary and columnist for the Toronto Sun.

But other than the Liberal war room and the Doug Ford war room, the story wasn’t going anywhere — calling German politicians “Nazis” doesn’t work, as that country criminalizes Nazism and those who support it. It is literally impossible for Anderson to be a Nazi — she’d be in prison if she were.

But for some reason, Poilievre — or, more likely, an inexperienced media handler — panicked. Instead of ignoring the story being ginned up by provocateurs, Poilievre’s staff put out a striking statement, one that could have been dictated by Trudeau himself: “Christine Anderson’s views are vile and have no place in our politics... Frankly, it would be better if Anderson never visited Canada in the first place. She and her racist, hateful views are not welcome here.”

What racist, hateful views? Poilievre didn’t say. And a careful read of the accusations made by Kinsella and Lilley shows they just cite other professional “anti-hate” activists, including the Liberal-funded “Canadian Anti-Hate Network”. The whole thing was a set-up — and Poilievre fell for it.

Not only did he humiliate his own MPs — including the popular Ms. Lewis — but he did Trudeau an enormous favour, by interrupting the national media’s recent interest in Trudeau’s affiliations with the Communist Party of China and that country’s interference in Canadian elections. Like a hockey player scoring a goal on his own net, Poilievre “proved” that his party was indeed racist by accepting the accusation, and legitimizing what would have otherwise been a fringe story shopped around by a couple of cranks.

Worst of all, Poilievre’s willingness to bend to the media mob, and turn on his own MPs (and Anderson’s many grassroots supporters) casts doubt on Poilievre’s commitment to end cancel culture and stand up to the woke mob. Poilievre has been on a winning street battling against CBC journalists, mocking them and defying their will. Today instead of laughing at journalists, he was obeying them and taking directions from them. Not a good look.

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