Carson Jerema: Toronto Star, CBC debase themselves with Poilievre hit job

If someone randomly scrawled stink lines onto a Pierre Poilievre poster, the Toronto Star would declare it proof that the Conservative leader smells bad, and is therefore a threat to Canada's existence. But even that would be considered astute political analysis compared to Star columnist Althia Raj's hit piece on Wednesday, hyperventilating over Poilievre visiting anti-carbon tax protesters near the Nova Scotia-New Brunswick border.

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While the group started protesting pandemic restrictions three years ago, they've been living at the camp since the start of April when the carbon tax increased. Poilievre, who you might have heard is against the carbon tax, opted to pull over and say hi. "We were just going down the highway and we heard about you guys on the news," Poilievre said, in explaining why he had his driver stop, according to video taken by the demonstrators and published by Press Progress.

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The Conservative leader called it "a good, old-fashioned Canadian tax revolt."

To any normal observer, Poilievre was endorsing the protesters' stance on the carbon tax, a fact the Star's Raj barely acknowledged, before she issued dire warnings about some nebulous far right threat that she stretches all logic to pin on the opposition leader.

"There is no doubt people are tired of the Liberal government," she concedes. But then, Raj goes on to claim that people being tired of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, "doesn't mean Canadians want to vote for a man who courts support from groups that spew hate."

OK, I suspect Canadians don't want a prime minister who courts hate groups. I don't want one either. So, what evidence is there that Poilievre is out there flirting with fascists? Perhaps a photo of him shaking hands with a hooded Klansmen? Or a  group of skin heads? Is there a photo of him in blackface? Did he get a letter of support from Hamas?

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Well, no, it appears to be nothing of the sort.

Instead, Raj points to two symbols present at the camp. The first was a collection of "F**K Trudeau" flags. Those may be distasteful, but as I live in Edmonton, I can tell you they are hardly uncommon and, more to the point, quite clearly political, not hateful. And, besides, when asked for a photo, Poilievre declined to take one in front of the flags, a fact Raj doesn't bother to acknowledge.

The second symbol, a rectangle with a diagonal line drawn across, was scrawled onto the inside of a trailer door, but it is small and near the bottom, and surrounded by other drawings. When Poilievre exits the trailer after being given a tour, you can see the symbol.

That image apparently represents Diagolon, a mostly online group of extremist loons. None of the people in the camp were of any note, even among the network of fringe activists. Though Press Progress — a far left outlet funded by the Broadbent Institute that appears to mostly publish NDP oppo research — noted that the "social media account" of one of the carbon tax protesters "shows he has frequently interacted with convoy figures." Scary!

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Even so, Raj concluded that "after arriving on site, speaking to demonstrators, and seeing their symbols, Poilievre assured them that, 'Everyone is happy with what you're doing,'" as if he was applauding Diagolon and not the fact they were protesting the carbon tax.

This nothing of a story is being treated with grave importance by other Star columnists and the extremely, permanently online left. One called the questions raised by Raj's column "potentially nation-defining." Somehow, if the plebs don't vote for Trudeau, Canada will be handed over to brownshirts with slashes across their shirts, all podcasting in unison the Diagolon message, or whatever.

The tone and tenor of the Raj column wasn't all that different from the CBC's story, which was all the worse because it is clearly an opinion piece, only presented as news copy.

"The Conservative leader is facing questions after stopping to cheer on an anti-carbon tax convoy camp near the border between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia," the CBC story opens. Just who is Poilievre facing questions from, other than reporters who see it as their mission to take out any opposition to the prime minister, we aren't told.

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CBC notes that Poilievre "bluntly accused the prime minister of lying about 'everything.'"

Apart from that being a pretty standard thing for political opponents to say about each other, the prime minister and the "truth" haven't really been on speaking terms lately.

Anyway, several paragraphs of detailing the horrors of Poilievre talking to protesters was followed by comments from Trudeau. At a news conference on Wednesday, the prime minister was lobbed a softball about Poilievre's apparent hatefest on the Atlantic, and he responded by accusing the Conservative leader of welcoming "the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists."

Once the public broadcaster decided that it was going to do this story, it could have at least tried to get a voice, a third-party, to explain that maybe this is a story about nothing. But what are our public dollars good for if not a hatchet job in defence of a Liberal prime minister?

So, in addition to Trudeau, they quoted NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, who implied Poilievre is stoking "hatred," and a pollster who mused that the Conservatives are becoming "over-confident." The opposition leader's office did respond to the CBC, but its response wasn't mentioned until the 17th paragraph.

And all of this, because Poilievre shook hands with a few protesters. The Liberals, trailing far behind in the polls, are in need of help and Canada's media is answering the call.

National Post

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