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Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poilievre is denying he ever spoke to a controversial German politician who recently claimed she spoke to him at least a “couple of times.”
Christine Anderson, a member of the European Parliament with the far-right Alternative fur Deutschland (AFD) or Alternative for Germany party, made the comments in a video posted to Twitter by the Western Standard media outlet.
In the video, Anderson is asked about her opinion of Poilievre, to which she responds, “I have spoken to him a couple of times, he seems to be a decent guy, and we need people that actually do think and go back to what democracy is all about and what elected representatives should do. It’s to be elected by the people and then represent and act in their best interests.”
Asked whether Poilievre has spoken to Anderson, Sebastian Skamski, director of media relations for the Opposition Leader’s Office, said in a statement, “Mr. Poilievre has never spoken to Christine Anderson, and any suggestion that he has is categorically false.”
CTVNews.ca has reached out to Anderson by email to clarify when she spoke to Poilievre or if she misspoke in her comments. A response has not been received.
Poilievre denounced Anderson last week after she met with three Conservative MPs during her recent tour of Canada in support of the “Freedom Convoy” movement.
Her tour included stops in Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Whitby, Ont.
The three Ontario MPs — Colin Carrie, Dean Allison and former Conservative leadership candidate Leslyn Lewis — were pictured with Anderson, a meeting the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs said it was “deeply concerned” about.
The centre specifically pointed to the German AFD party Anderson belongs to as being “known for Islamophobic and anti-immigrant views.”
Skamski, Poilievre’s spokesperson, said in a previous statement that the MPs were unaware of her “vile” views and said they regret meeting with her.
“Frankly, it would be better if Anderson never visited Canada in the first place. She and her racist, hateful views are not welcome here,” he said.
The three MPs, meanwhile, released their own statement saying it is not uncommon for MPs to meet visiting elected officials and denied being aware of Anderson’s views or those of her party.
Skamski did not respond to a question from CTVNews.ca asking if any action would be taken against the three MPs.
Responding to Poilievre, Anderson said in a video posted by the right-leaning media platform True North that she is “very sorry” he feels this way.
“All I can say: I had a lovely time meeting with the members of his party and at no point do I see where I expressed hateful and racist views, as he puts it,” she said.
Anderson added “no one gets to define me and not even Mr. Poilievre.”
“You do not get to define me. I know what I stand for, I know what I fight for and I know that I will never cater to any democratic leader or any elected government that does not act in the best interest of the people,” she said.
Asked about Anderson on Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, “Canadians need to stop being treated like fools and the Conservatives need to own up and really dissociate themselves from hateful, vile, intolerant rhetoric, or tell the truth and explain that they actually have room for (that rhetoric) and intolerance within their party.”
Lori Williams, a political science professor at Mount Royal University, says the meeting with Anderson shows “poor judgment” as the Conservatives look to court moderate voters ahead of the next federal election and disassociate themselves from radical views.
“Many people in the party, many of their supporters, many who voted Conservative Party, do not endorse (Anderson’s) views,” she told CTV National News last weekend. “But that association has been a problem for the Conservatives in the past, and you would think they’d be doubly careful about associations that could revive those concerns.”
On Saturday, Lewis said she stands by her record of “defending immigrants, religious minorities and the vulnerable, not mocking and dividing them as the PM does.”
“The PM wore Blackface, denigrating Black people; throws minority women under the bus. Now he suggests I’m racist for meeting a sitting EU MP?” Lewis said in a post on Twitter.
Meanwhile, conservative strategist Jamie Ellerton says Poilievre should look into whether the MPs that met with Anderson should face consequences.
“Meeting at public events with far-right German politicians — that really undercuts the values pitch that Pierre Poilievre is making to voters. It makes it harder for every other single member in that caucus to do their job,” he told CTV National News last weekend.
Anderson made headlines for openly criticizing Trudeau’s handling of the Freedom Convoy protests last year, calling him a “disgrace for any democracy.”
The comments came after he addressed European parliamentarians in Brussels in March 2022.
“A prime minister who openly admires the Chinese basic dictatorship, who tramples on fundamental rights by persecuting and criminalizing his own citizens as terrorists just because they dared to stand up to his perverted concept of democracy, should not be allowed to speak in this house at all,” Anderson said.
During her tour, Anderson appeared with convoy organizer Tamara Lich and two of her lawyers. She also posed for a photo with the flag of Diagolon, an online protest movement considered by some to be an extremist group.
In a video posted to Twitter on Friday, People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier appeared with Anderson and called her an “honourary member” of the party.
With files from CTV National News Senior Political Correspondent Glen McGregor, CTV National News Ottawa Correspondent Judy Trinh, former CTVNews.ca Producer Sarah Turnbull and The Canadian Press.
Opinion: Brad West been one of the sharpest critics of decriminalization
Published Apr 22, 2024 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 4 minute read
VICTORIA — Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West fired off a letter to Premier David Eby last week about Allan Schoenborn, the child killer who changed his name in a bid for anonymity.
“It is completely beyond the pale that individuals like Schoenborn have the ability to legally change their name in an attempt to disassociate themselves from their horrific crimes and to evade the public,” wrote West.
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The Alberta government has legislated against dangerous, long-term and high risk offenders who seek to change their names to escape public scrutiny.
“I urge your government to pass similar legislation as a high priority to ensure the safety of British Columbians,” West wrote the premier.
The B.C. Review Board has granted Schoenborn overnight, unescorted leave for up to 28 days, and he spent some of that time in Port Coquitlam, according to West.
This despite the board being notified that “in the last two years there have been 15 reported incidents where Schoenborn demonstrated aggressive behaviour.”
“It is absolutely unacceptable that an individual who has committed such heinous crimes, and continues to demonstrate this type of behaviour, is able to roam the community unescorted.”
Understandably, those details alarmed PoCo residents.
But the letter is also an example of the outspoken mayor’s penchant for to-the-point pronouncements on provincewide concerns.
He’s been one of the sharpest critics of decriminalization.
His most recent blast followed the news that the New Democrats were appointing a task force to advise on ways to curb the use of illicit drugs and the spread of weapons in provincial hospitals.
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“Where the hell is the common sense here?” West told Mike Smyth on CKNW recently. “This has just gone way too far. And to have a task force to figure out what to do — it’s obvious what we need to do.
“In a hospital, there’s no weapons and you can’t smoke crack or fentanyl or any other drugs. There you go. Just saved God knows how much money and probably at least six months of dithering.”
He had a pithy comment on the government’s excessive reliance on outside consultants like MNP to process grants for clean energy and other programs.
“If ever there was a place to find savings that could be redirected to actually delivering core public services, it is government contracts to consultants like MNP,” wrote West.
He’s also broken with the Eby government on the carbon tax.
“The NDP once opposed the carbon tax because, by its very design, it is punishing to working people,” wrote West in a social media posting.
“The whole point of the tax is to make gas MORE expensive so people don’t use it. But instead of being honest about that, advocates rely on flimsy rebate BS. It is hard to find someone who thinks they are getting more dollars back in rebates than they are paying in carbon tax on gas, home heat, etc.”
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West has a history with the NDP. He was a political staffer and campaign worker with Mike Farnworth, the longtime NDP MLA for Port Coquitlam and now minister of public safety.
When West showed up at the legislature recently, Farnworth introduced him to the house as “the best mayor in Canada” and endorsed him as his successor: “I hope at some time he follows in my footsteps and takes over when I decide to retire — which is not just yet,” added Farnworth who is running this year for what would be his eighth term.
Other political players have their eye on West as a future prospect as well.
Several parties have invited him to run in the next federal election. He turned them all down.
Lately there has also been an effort to recruit him to lead a unified Opposition party against Premier David Eby in this year’s provincial election.
I gather the advocates have some opinion polling to back them up and a scenario that would see B.C. United and the Conservatives make way (!) for a party to be named later.
Such flights of fancy are commonplace in B.C. when the NDP is poised to win against a divided Opposition.
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By going after West, the advocates pay a compliment to his record as mayor (low property taxes and a fix-every-pothole work ethic) and his populist stands on public safety, carbon taxation and other provincial issues.
The outreach to a small city mayor who has never run provincially also says something about the perceived weaknesses of the alternatives to Eby.
“It is humbling,” West said Monday when I asked his reaction to the overtures.
But he is a young father with two boys, aged three and seven. The mayor was 10 when he lost his own dad and he believes that if he sought provincial political leadership now, “I would not be the type of dad I want to be.”
When West ran for re-election — unopposed — in 2022, he promised to serve out the full four years as mayor.
He is poised to keep his word, confident that if the overtures to run provincially are serious, they will still be there when his term is up.
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LIVE Q&A WITH B.C. PREMIER DAVID EBY: Join us April 23 at 3:30 p.m. when we will sit down with B.C. Premier David Eby for a special edition of Conversations Live. The premier will answer our questions — and yours — about a range of topics, including housing, drug decriminalization, transportation, the economy, crime and carbon taxes. Click HERE to get a link to the livestream emailed to your inbox.
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