Roundup: O’Toole’s tacit endorsement of conspiracy theories

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At another campaign event yesterday, Justin Trudeau faced another angry mob in the background, and this time they included signs that showed doctored photos of Trudeau at the gallows about to be hanged. Trudeau carried on throughout, but did call out Erin O’Toole to actually denounce this kind of thing, and O’Toole…didn’t really. Not in any meaningful way.

https://twitter.com/supriyadwivedi/status/1432053724281810959

https://twitter.com/robert_hiltz/status/1432050587860881409

It was pointed out that this particular image of Trudeau at the gallows was also part of one of Conservative incumbent Cheryl Gallant’s videos, wherein she peddled the conspiracy theory that Trudeau was going to call a “climate lockdown” to exert control and that climate change is just some fiction cooked up for these kinds of nefarious plots. And wouldn’t you know it – O’Toole refused to condemn Gallant or her continued attempts to push conspiracy theories. The party ensured Gallant scrubbed her YouTube channel, but their excuse when asked was that the image in question was “out of context,” which is bullshit that nobody should believe.

This isn’t the first time Gallant has been in the media for such things, and O’Toole has been aware of them in the past, and refused to do anything about it – in essence, endorsing the behaviour. And hell, Gallant is one of the reasons why Stephen Harper became so hard line about message discipline – because Gallant’s batshit media utterances about protecting sexual orientation from hate crimes helped to sink the Harper campaign in 2004. That O’Toole has been letting her run free with her accusations that the Liberals want to normalise sex with children, or this “climate lockdown” is a plot – and he knows she’s doing it, because it’s been brought to his attention before and he refused to say anything about it then either – it’s a tacit endorsement. Just saying “I’m the leader and what I say goes” both delegitimises the whole point of having MPs in the first place, and presents the party as monolithic, which it’s not. But to not say anything about Gallant or her conspiracies at all, and to consciously avoid saying anything about it at all is a choice, and it’s a choice that should be pointed out loud and clear as to what kinds of behaviours that O’Toole is willing to tolerate in order to achieve power.

On the campaign trail:

  • Justin Trudeau was in Cambridge, Ontario, to promise more climate action, and was again subjected to loud chants by an angry mob.
  • Erin O’Toole explained his plan for tax credits for small business creation.
  • Jagmeet Singh appeared at an event with Ruth Ellen Brosseau.
  • The Canadian Press has a profile of Singh.
  • Critics in Atlantic Canada are saying that the Liberal campaign is unfocused.
  • Heather Scoffield tries to get a handle on how the pandemic changed suburbia and how that will play out in the election.

Good reads:

  • Marc Garneau says that an agreement has been reached with the Taliban to allow safe passage of people with travel authorizations, thanks to economic leverage.
  • Brian Pallister says he’ll be resigning on Wednesday, meaning his party will need to find an interim leader to be sworn in as premier until their leadership contest ends.

Odds and ends:

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One thought on “Roundup: O’Toole’s tacit endorsement of conspiracy theories”

  1. Thankfully, he was asked about Goofus Gallant at the Five Leaders interview in QC last night. I think it’s obvious she’s one of the most egregious bozo eruptors in the CPC but she’s certainly not the only one. I expect the Liberals to have done oppo research that will drop this week — they don’t even have to go deep, because the “moderate” CPC have given them plenty of material to pull from. Pigeon Pierre’s “Great Reset” anyone?

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