At a rally that took place last week on June 19 in Montreal, federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre embraced a far-right extremist – who is known for his anti-trans views – telling him to “keep up the great work.”
🚨NEW: Pierre Poilievre just gave a shout out to a disinfo-spreading YouTuber who regular posts anti-trans trash.
He appeared to recognize the YouTuber and told him to “keep up the great work.”
This is…not a good sign for Poilievre’s information diet: pic.twitter.com/azujNXv0MM
— Rachel Gilmore (@atRachelGilmore) June 20, 2024
The person in question is known online as ‘The Pleb Reporter’ and is active on social media and YouTube where he broadcasts far-right extremist views, conspiracy theories and anti-trans and anti-2SLGBTQIA+ rhetoric.
Things The Pleb Reporter has shared on social media include statements falsely claiming that trans individuals are more likely to perpetrate school shootings and that trans women are not women.
Journalist Rachel Gilmore recently identified The Pleb Reporter’s problematic statements in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
In addition to his hateful rhetoric targeting the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, The Pleb Reporter has also made harassing statements on social media directed at Gilmore in the past.
Attacking trans individuals as Conservative party policy
Disturbingly, attacking trans individuals has seemingly become party policy for the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC).
Earlier this year, Poilievre stated that he opposed trans women from participating in women’s sports and also said that he supported blocking trans teens from receiving gender-affirming care.
At that time, Amnesty International Canada issued a statement slamming Poilievre for his anti-trans rhetoric.
“Not only does this shameful rhetoric put trans and gender-diverse people at further risk; it obscures the realities of gender-based violence in Canada,” reads a statement from Amnesty International Canada. “Amnesty International Canada wholeheartedly condemns any attempt to scapegoat members of the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community to score political points. We call on all political leaders to end the spread of harmful disinformation.”
Poilievre is not the only conservative leader who has made attacking transgendered persons official policy.
Last year and early in 2024 conservative premiers in New Brunswick, Saskatchewan and Alberta all implemented policies targeting trans youth in schools. While the policies vary from province to province, all require students under the age of 17 to get a parent’s permission before they are allowed to use their correct pronouns in schools. In Alberta, the policy does go as far as blocking trans youth from receiving some forms of gender-affirming care.
CPC has drawn closer to violent and bigoted far-right extremists
Last Wednesday’s rally is not the first time that Poilievre and his party has embraced far-right extremists and their views in recent years.
During the so-called “Freedom Convoy” occupation that took place in downtown Ottawa, Poilievre met with members of that group and gave them coffee and some words of encouragement, despite reports that they were harassing residents of Ottawa on the streets.
While Poilievre was running for the leadership in August of 2022 he was photographed shaking hands with Jeremy MacKenzie, a far-right podcaster and a leader of the Diagolon movement, which the Canadian Anti-Hate Network has characterized as being a white supremacist organization.
MacKenzie was later investigated by the RCMP for allegedly threatening Poilievre’s wife. He was also charged with harassing the Chief Medical Officer of Nova Scotia. Those charges were later dropped due to the case taking too long to move through the court system.
Last year, Conservative MPs met with Christine Anderson, a German Member of the European Parliament with the Alternative für Deutschland party, which has expressed openly Islamophobic views.
READ MORE: CPC MPs knew who Christine Anderson was, and know her politics
Conservative MPs have also put forward far-right petitions in Parliament, which have claimed things like the UN is secretly trying to influence Canadian children through the “normalization of sexual values and activities.”
Another petition put forward last month by Arnold Viersen, Conservative MP for Peace River-Westlock, AB amplified anti-choice rhetoric by calling for greater protections for the “preborn.”
The embrace of far-right politics, often targeting the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, Muslims and people of colour has quickly become the norm and is intrinsically tied to the identity of Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party of Canada.
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