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Alberta politicians distance themselves from far-right German politician event – CBC.ca

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Elected MPs and MLAs in Alberta are distancing themselves from a German member of the European Parliament who attended an event in Calgary this month at one of the city’s most prominent downtown venues.

Christine Anderson, a member of Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, went on a cross-Canada tour that ended last Friday in Montreal. She made a stop in Calgary and made an appearance at a dinner event held at the Calgary Petroleum Club on Feb. 18. 

Anderson gained a profile, especially among anti-vaccine Canadians, after she accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of civil rights violations during the trucker convoy protests when he attended the European Parliament in Brussels.

At the event at the Petroleum Club, Anderson was presented with a white cowboy hat by Artur Pawlowski, a Calgary-based preacher whose clashes with authorities over pandemic health rules have made news in recent years. 

Anderson’s cross-Canada tour has made waves, especially within the federal Conservative caucus.

When photos emerged last week of Anderson posing with three Conservative MPs — Niagara West MP Dean Allison, Oshawa MP Colin Carrie and Haldimand–Norfolk MP Leslyn Lewis — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s office issued a statement calling Anderson’s politics vile, racist and hateful

The statement added “it would be better if Anderson never visited Canada in the first place.”

In Calgary, Mayor Jyoti Gondek also raised questions about the visit. 

“Please allow me [to clarify] that neither [Tourism Calgary] nor [Calgary Stampede] gave a white hat to Christine Anderson. And I think it’s pretty clear that I don’t endorse her views in any manner,” Gondek wrote.

“It’ll be interesting to see what [the Calgary Petroleum Club] has to say about hosting the event.”

The Calgary Petroleum Club did not respond to requests from CBC News for comment.

The Calgary Petroleum Club is a downtown private social club that often plays host to events and meetings which number in the hundreds. The club initially offered membership primarily to members of the area’s local oil and gas industry, though it has since broadened its membership base.

A spokesperson with the governing United Conservative Party says its caucus members didn’t attend the event, and that Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has never spoken with Anderson. A spokesperson with the Alberta NDP said its members had also not attended the event and Alberta Party Leader Barry Morishita confirmed to CBC News that no candidates from his party were there. 

CBC News also requested comment from all nine sitting Calgary-area MPs (one seat is currently vacant).

Four Conservative Party MPs — Jasraj Hallan, John Barlow, Ron Liepert and Len Webber — responded to confirm they, too, had not attended the event, though others did not respond to a request for comment.

Duane Bratt, a political scientist at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said it was important for Alberta politicians to distance themselves from Anderson for much the same reasons that federal politicians did.

“I just find it appalling that any Canadian politician would be unaware of who the AfD is, and would support something like this,” Bratt said.

Street preacher Artur Pawlowski presented a ‘white hat’ to Christine Anderson, candidate of Germany’s anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany, though city officials emphasized that was not handed down in an official capacity. (Facebook)

Alternative for Germany has long been controversial

Anderson is a member of the Alternative for Germany Party (AfD). 

The group has been accused of downplaying the crimes of the Holocaust and, sometimes, employing rhetoric “tinged with Nazi overtones.” 

In widely publicized comments from 2018, AfD founder Alexander Gauland said Hitler and the Nazis were only “a speck of bird poop in more than 1,000 years of successful German history.” The group has also been placed under surveillance by Germany’s intelligence agency as a suspected extremist group.

German politician Christine Anderson, second from left, poses with organizers of last winter’s convoy protests in Calgary including Tamara Lich, second from right. (Christine Anderson/Facebook)

Anderson was pictured during her time in Canada posing with members of the far-right Diagolon organization, which has been described by the Ontario Provincial Police as an extremist group.

“I had a blast doing it. I was told, they are comedians and literally made a mockery of this whole government agenda,” she told the right-wing media group Rebel News last week. 

James Turk, director of the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University, said the Calgary Petroleum Club, as a private organization, has every right to invite a speaker like Anderson in a democratic society, though that will mean bearing criticism.

“The Calgary Petroleum Club is welcomed in our democratic society to host whomever it wants. I think it’s a terrible idea for them to do it,” Turk said in an interview.

“That’s the other part of freedom of expression. You can do things, but then you have to deal with the consequences of your choice.”

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‘Disgraceful:’ N.S. Tory leader slams school’s request that military remove uniform

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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.

Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.

A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”

Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.

“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.

In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”

“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”

Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.

Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.

Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.

“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.

“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.

“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.

“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”

“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Saskatchewan NDP’s Beck holds first caucus meeting after election, outlines plans

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REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.

Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.

She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.

Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.

Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.

The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Nova Scotia election: Liberals say province’s immigration levels are too high

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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.

Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.

“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.

Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.

“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”

The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.

In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.

“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”

In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.

“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”

Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.

Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.

“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”

In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.

In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.

“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”

Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.

“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”

The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.

“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.

Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.

“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

— With files from Keith Doucette in Halifax

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