Last weekend's incident where a sitting MP was broadcasting conspiracy theories containing well-worn anti-Semitic tropes quickly fell out of the news cycle alarmingly so as mainstream Canadian media instead felt the need to instead focus on polls and fuelling the speculation of a potential fall election.  Most outlets didn't accurately portray what it was that had been tweeted, and focused on a half-assed apology that disingenuously portrayed what had taken place, and almost nobody put this incident into a broader perspective that the mainstreaming of this kind of conspiracy theorism has been on the rise, particularly (but not exclusively) in Conservative ranks as they latch onto anything that they hope will "own the Libs," and the full-on embrace professional shitposters who spread these corrosive memes into their ranks.

To recap, Kerry-Lynne Findlay, MP and one-time Minister of the Crown, was broadcasting QAnon and anti-Semitic New World Order conspiracy theories in an attempt to discredit new finance minister Chrystia Freeland.  The tweet that Findlay quote-tweeted contained a video clip of Freeland in her journalist years interviewing financier George Soros about globalism, to which Findlay added the phrase that "The closeness of these two should alarm every Canadian."  This was then retweeted by several Conservatives including Pierre Poilievre, and later in the day, apparently after Liberal MP Anthony Housefather reached out to Findlay did she delete the tweet and offered that half-assed apology that didn't include any explanation of why anyone should be "alarmed" by Freeland interviewing Soros.  This after she tried to defend the tweet saying that it was "about economics."

It should be noteworthy that new Conservative leader Erin O'Toole did not actually comment on the incident (even though Findlay actually tagged O'Toole in her original quote-tweet).  When pressed by journalists during his press conference when he announced his new leadership team, he said that he called leaders from the Jewish community, but didn't say whether he spoke to Findlay about the issue.  It wouldn't really matter, however, because we need to remember that one of the people that O'Toole hired as part of his leadership campaign staffers was Jeff Ballingall, who runs those Ontario Proud/Canada Proud shitpost accounts, who is also actively involved in The Post Millennial, a hard-right "news" site that has actively promoted conspiracy theories in the past.

This has been building for a while.  During the previous leadership race, the debate over Motion 103, which tasked the Commons heritage committee to look at ways to combat Islamophobia, was treated by some of the leadership candidates as an "singling out Muslims for special treatment," and was falsely billed as creating "blasphemy laws" and would impact freedom of speech.  While the Interim party leader, Rona Ambrose, did repudiate those claims, the direction that the party was headed in was pretty clear, considering that many of the leadership candidates were onboard with demonizing a benign non-binding motion.

When Andrew Scheer became leader, the broadcasting of outright conspiracy theories began with his official imprimatur, most notably around the UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, where Scheer proclaimed repeatedly that this was about surrendering the sovereignty of Canada's borders to the UN, when it did nothing of the sort.  Scheer was also amplifying the messages of the so-called "Yellow Vest" movement, which rapidly attracted white supremacists to the cause as one of the grievances was about the flow of irregular migrants across the border, in addition to complete falsehoods about carbon pricing, and the bizarre notion that prime minister Justin Trudeau needed to be tried for treason a theme that has since been amplified by QAnon and other conspiracy theories.  (It also took Scheer weeks to denounce those white supremacists, for what it's worth).  During the election, Scheer's constant lies about fictional plans that the Liberals were alleged to be hatching around a capital gains tax continued the trend of being willing to say anything, no matter how far-fetched, so long as it discredited the Liberals.

Also recall that as part of his bitter farewell speech on the night of the Conservative leadership results, Scheer urged people to forego mainstream media in favour of hard-right outlets like True North Initiative and The Post Millennial, which have also been involved in broadcasting conspiracy theories, including the M-103 and UN Global Compact falsehoods.  One of True North's contributors was very recently trying to spread the falsehood that the government's COVID-19 contact tracing app would allow the government to track Canadians' movements, even though the Privacy Commissioner explicitly stated that it didn't, and it was safe enough that even he would download it.  And it was certainly noted after Findlay's quote-tweet that MPs were certainly leading by example in amplifying the messages of these outlets that trade in dishonesty, disinformation, and conspiracies.

With this in mind, it would seem to me that O'Toole has not exactly been keen to tamp down on this kind of talk from his caucus in part because he's in bed with Ballingall, whose professional shitposter activities actively amplify this very material.  All of it is thinly sourced and quoted out of context in order to present false portrayals of what the Liberals have done or are supposedly planning to do mostly unnecessarily because there is plenty that the Liberals have done can be legitimately criticized (particularly aggravated by their inability to communicate), but there is an inherent willingness to say anything, no matter how ludicrous, in the hopes of scoring points.

There is a dangerous precedent being set by O'Toole's tacit silence on his party's part in broadcasting these conspiracy theories, especially as it's being alleged that the Canadian Ranger member who stormed the grounds of Rideau Hall was likely radicalized by QAnon conspiracies.  There is no way to have a rational discourse in Canadian politics if it becomes mired in the filth of these kinds of conspiracies, replete with their anti-Semitic overtones that date back to the propaganda text "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion."  Clearly O'Toole has hitched his wagon to the shitposters who are willing to amplify these messages and to muddy the waters around what is and is not true in politics, but no good can come of following this road to its conclusion.

Photo Credit: CBC News