, 08.21.2018 07:54 AM

The Conservative Party’s new heroine

From next week’s Hill Times column:

The Storm Alliance are led by a former Soldiers of Odin leader, Dave Tregget. Like David Duke did for the Ku Klux Klan forty years ago, Tregget’s strategy is to project a kinder, gentler image for anti-migrant, anti-refugee agitation. It’s attracted the same sorts of white supremacists, neo-Nazis and bigots that Soldiers of Odin did and do. But it’s more media-savvy. ‎

‎Thus their presence at the Trudeau event, video cameras in tow. They were after uncritical media coverage, and they got lots of it.

‎The Storm Alliance’s previous media event hadn’t gone as well. In July, the Storm Alliance teamed up with another Quebec-based refugee-hating group, La Meute‎ (roughly, The Wolf Pack). The two groups gathered on Canada Day at Hemmingford, Quebec, to intimidate migrants and prevent them from crossing the border. ‎

‎White supremacist Faith Goldy, now a Toronto mayoral candidate, showed up to offer Storm Alliance her support. She whips up hate, and she’s good at it. ‎

‎Storm Alliance’s Blain was the right choice to whip up hate at the Justin Trudeau event, too. She is a member of another anti-immigrant group, the Front Patriotique du Quebec, and is a separatist. A few months ago, a Front Patriotique admin opined on Facebook the need for a “terrorist attack to wake up people.”‎

‎Blain seems to dislike Muslims, a lot. ‎A few months ago, she refused to be touched by a Muslim student at a dental clinic at the University of Montreal.

‎At the Trudeau rally, she started screaming about illegal immigrants, and she got the attention of both the media and the Prime Minister of Canada. The cameras followed her at the event, and Justin Trudeau even engaged with her – forcefully but not inappropriately. ‎

‎The Conservative Party of Canada, right up to and including Andrew Scheer, loudly denounced Trudeau for abridging Blain’s “freedom of speech.” On Twitter and elsewhere, Conservatives condemned Trudeau for the sin of opposing Diane Blain. They sounded like they tought Diane Blain was a hero. ‎

‎She isn’t. She’s a racist.

41 Comments

  1. Luke says:

    Typo alert: intimate migrants, should be intimidate migrants

    I’ll have to go have another look at Neil MacDonald’s piece on this topic. Got distracted and forgot to read to the end just as e was getting to this exact matter. Sounded like he thought Trudeau’s response was perhaps overblown. Perhaps he dodnt check who was speaking.

  2. J.H. says:

    A Canadian is a Canadian, is a Canadian, is the Trudeau mantra. So the question would seem to be are there degrees of this? Are only certain Canadians allowed to ask about the use of tax dollars? That’s the real issue and turning it into something else is akin to Gerry Butts calling everyone who disagrees with him a Nazis. Sure Bain’s politics are rank, but she is a citizen & voter. Do her views negate her right to ask Trudeau those questions?

    • Joe H says:

      That’s the same dog whistle conservatives are blowing. They should be asking questions, but when the question is based upon a false premise, such as in this case about “illegal immigration”, which isn’t illegal, it smacks of intolerance. Should we be questioning immigration? Absolutely. But not in a tone that is meant to divide and seed hate.

      I am sick of the politics of division, which all sides seem to be using.

      • Pedant says:

        I think Trudeau would disagree with you that anyone should be questioning immigration. The diktat is that more immigration is always better and that anyone who disagrees is a racist who must sit down and shut up (and pay taxes).

        Canada has the highest immigration intake quota in the Western world per capita; I think only New Zealand might be a bit higher. For comparison we are at nearly 3x the US intake per capita legal immigration (illegal immigration whole other story). Toronto and Vancouver are bursting at the seams – great for Boomers and Xers who bought real estate in the 80s/90s/2000s, but horrible for most Millennials. I think we deserve an adult debate on this issue.

    • John W. says:

      Well there are good people on all sides.
      Rempel, Scheer, MacLeod have found enough good people in this group to give them their support.

    • Eric Weiss says:

      The PM isn’t obligated to interact with a white supremacist. He’s not Trump.

    • Cory Arsenault says:

      All Canadians are equal but some are more equal than others.

    • J.H.,

      Yup, this is a democracy and as such, free speech should be the general rule. However, we should have absolutely no quarter for anyone spouting hate speech.

      Anyone can ask about taxes or government spending and deserves a civilized response.

      Move beyond that topic,in an unacceptable way, by promoting hate and you negate your right to a response — or you get back as good as you gave from your interlocutor.

      • MikeTO says:

        I hate cheats and liars and speak out against them. Should my “hate” speech be banned because cheats and liars cannot be called out? This whole premise makes no sense.

      • J.H. says:

        Thank you that is the response I expected from a fair-minded individual. I’ll have no truck with her beliefs, but will defend her right to ask any politician about the use of tax dollars for any purpose and to be able to do it without being bullied by police officers.
        BTW there are full videos out there of the whole incident and the security people were particularly over zealous with this woman. Looked like they were trying to shut her down just because she was speaking out.

    • Steve says:

      Well said JH. I have no idea who Diane Blain is, or whether she is a racist or part of a racist group. However, it is becoming painfully apparent that Trudeau (and Butts) have little time or tolerance for Canadians who do not fully agree with their views. Obvious examples are charitable groups being denied summer job funding, Rachael Harder being blocked from heading the status of women committee, Butts calling opponents of Trudeau’s “people kind” gaffe Nazis or smearing anyone who dares to question his open border policies on illegal immigration as racist. The “sunny ways” Trudeau was selling in 2015 has become a dark, hypocritical path in 2018. The “Diversity is our Strength” platitude that Trudeau goes on about ad nauseam is apparently only a strength if you pledge unquestioned allegiance to his narrow views. That is shameful and wearing thin, fast…

      • pierre lawayne says:

        What the fuck are you talking about. where were you for the ten years before Trudeau got elected. When we had Harpo she would never have been allowed to speak as he would have screened her out, audited her taxes and put her on a CSIS enemies list.

        • terence quinn says:

          Pierre lasagne……you hit the nail dead on.

        • Robert White says:

          CSIS probably has double secret enemies lists too, eh. Don’t ever forget double secret probation either. Heck, the Deep State probably has an even Deeper State too.

          Intelligence works in layers upon layers of plausible deniability.

          RW

  3. Robert Price says:

    Racism and hate. To ignore is to empower. Period.

  4. Matt says:

    Andrew MacDougall tweeted something that pretty much sums up my feeling on this:

    Andrew MacDougall
    @AGMacDougall

    All of these things are true: A) PMJT was heckled by a woman with odious views B) PMJT responded harshly to a legit question before anyone knew of odious views C) Many non-racists have same Q D) Trudeau hates answering Q because he has no answer
    5:34 AM – 21 Aug 2018

    A recent poll by Angus Reid is showing the number of Canadians who think the immigration level is too high is at an historic high – 49%.

    Also interesting – significant numbers of Liberal and NDP voters are now in the too high camp.

    http://angusreid.org/canadian-immigration-trend-data/

    Trudeau and the Liberals are losing the issue and they know it. Their frustration and outbursts will grow. Guess Gerry Butts is going to have a busy day on twitter calling people Nazi’s.

    • JChristov says:

      Did you expect any different from Andrew MacDougall, former communications director for Stephen Harper… you know, the person who talked about old stock Canadians!

    • doconnor says:

      B might be incorrect. Security agencies where probably monitoring these people and caught wind of thier plan and warned the Prime Minister. He was probably prepared with his condemnation of racism and security was ready to remove her. They probably didn’t expect she would start with an relatively innocent question.

  5. CuJoYYC says:

    Typo alert. No need to post this comment.

    “They sounded like they tought Diane Blain was a hero.”

    “They sounded like they thought Diane Blain was a hero.”

  6. AutoWorker Dave says:

    So by this logic if I’m an autoworker and ask about NAFTA and a member of some racist group also asks about NAFTA then immediately I’m a racist too?

    That seems to be how Justin and Gerald and the entire Liberal party and it’s supporters view things.

  7. Robert White says:

    MP Scheer is showing his true colours on what kind of leadership we can expect from him if he ever becomes PM.
    Frankly, I’m extremely tired of all the Muslim bashing that has been emanating out of the Con camp for over a decade now. Racism & sexism drove me from the PC Party to the Liberal Party. Scheer et al are merely following Steve Bannon’s marketing strategy in order to sew division. Bernier was doing this sort of thing last week and now Scheer is up to the same racist dog whistle rhetoric this week.

    Conservatives have nothing to lead the country with and they have no vision whatsoever for CANADA.

    Down with Conservative hate mongers & shit-storm stirrers like Scheer, Bernier, Harper, & Kenny.

    Keep up the good work, Prime Minister Trudeau.

    RW

  8. Mike Jeffries says:

    How typical for JT. Instead of answering the question about illegal border crossing he changes the channel! Why?
    JT is allergic to certain words which send him into a tizzy! That word that the lady used “illegal” caused him to blow his “gasket” as the lady claims. Of course, it was her fault for not using the proper Canadian Liberal language and so she IS unCanadian and second class. She should have checked Immigration Canada to use their lexicon of “irregular” border crossing and then maybe he would have had an answer (don’t hold your breath). But, maybe someone can explain to me this bit from Immigration Canada: “Some individuals enter Canada irregularly between designated ports of entry. This can be dangerous and is a violation of the law.” I thought, but what do I know that “illegal” means breaking the law?

  9. John W. says:

    I’m reminded of the old Lovin Spoonful song, Did you ever have to make up your mind, to say yes to one and leave the other behind.
    Scheer could have stayed neutral or he could have mildly supported a Trudeau’s defence of tolerance. But instead full throated alliance with the white supremicist.
    Can’t deal with Bernier either.
    The Conservatives seem to be drawing up the seating plan on the government side of the House.
    Sorry. Canadians will never put a weakling like this in the big job. Probably tiring of a few others like a Rempel.

  10. Esoman Graphics says:

    Twitter was “seething blue in the face” since this incident first unfolded? I certainly smell coverup now, in the sheepish bullshitting “So what attitudes”, expressed by Bulldog ‘Twerps’, feeling a little ‘Sheepish’ about their antics…

  11. PK says:

    Shameless dog whistle bullshit. It’s a bigots code. It’s a way to motivate and gather bigots under their “big tent” without the traditional slurs – they can say immigrant, and all their dirt bag pals know what they’re talking about. They’re talking about people of color – it is entirely about racism as a means to motivate a base.

  12. James Smith says:

    Perhaps Ms MacLeod and the present Premier of Ontario should be open to the same criticism as they seem to be voicing the same talking points.

  13. Nicole says:

    “Québécois de souche” is an inherently racist term and any francophone like Trudeau would have known its meaning right away. (It excludes all québécois who aren’t white and can’t trace their ancestry to New France). She didn’t even start with an innocent question using that term. This is also a woman who refused to be treated by a Muslim dentist and was in the news for it a few years ago. Or Quebec media anyway. Scheer is banking on anglophone Canada being ignorant of this, but this older lady was not an innocent mémère asking a simple question.

  14. Jack says:

    Look at all these apologists posting comments here to obfuscate and equivocate outright racism.

    Not one of these snowflakes bothered to echo the original sentiment in Warren’s post, i.e. the Conservative Party’s affinity with dog whistling.

    I legit can’t wait until these clowns head into the 2018 election with the same bullshit they ran on in 2015 and try to tell Canadians they’re any better this time around.

    I for one am glad we have a Prime Minister who is not concerned with being delicate with the sensitivity of a bigot. He calls it like it is – racism. Andrew Scheer is too worried about trying not to offend people with the truth!

  15. Walter says:

    Evidence that Blain is racist. Warren’s statement (‘‎Blain seems to dislike Muslims, a lot. ‎A few months ago, she refused to be touched by a Muslim student at a dental clinic at the University of Montreal.’) above with no reference or quote to actual incident.

    Evidence that Trudeau accuses person of being racist without uttering any racism words – the 8 minute video.

    • Fred from BC says:

      That’s it exactly. A whole bunch of people here missed the real point entirely: that Trudeau *didn’t know* if she was a racist or not when she asked her first question. He knew nothing about her, but immediately accused her of racism just for asking a legitimate question about immigration that makes him and his government look bad. Now THAT is ‘dog-whistle politics’ at its finest (and no, identifying her as a possible racist *after* the fact doesn’t count, sorry…).

      • Mohammed says:

        This isn’t true. Her first comment uses the phrase “de souche” — it made it on obvious to anyone who speaks French what her politics were. It was clear to me.

        If a heckler asks an English language politician about “rootless cosmopolitan bankers”, and the politician responds by saying the heckler is an anti-Semite, the politician is not making a lucky guess.

        • Fred from BC says:

          “This isn’t true. Her first comment uses the phrase “de souche” — it made it on obvious to anyone who speaks French what her politics were. It was clear to me.”

          And meaningless to me, since I don’t speak French. I’m sure if I researched the term I would find people like you who think it is offensive, and others who disagree.

          “f a heckler asks an English language politician about “rootless cosmopolitan bankers”, and the politician responds by saying the heckler is an anti-Semite, the politician is not making a lucky guess.”

          Either a lucky guess or a genius. I had no idea what you were talking about until I got to the ‘anti-semite’ reference (is that more French slang?)

          So if I’m wrong about Junior’s response in this case, it’s only because he has used the racism card so often (and inappropriately) in previous ones…

  16. Eric Weiss says:

    Does anybody have a link to the story where she supposedly refused service from a Muslim student? I’ve googled it, and all I find is other articles referencing it, but not an original report.

    • Eric Weiss says:

      That’s not an original story, it’s a reference to an incident. If this happened in 2015 there should be news stories from the time it happened no?

      I’m not saying it’s not true, I just want to see an original source.

      • Fred from BC says:

        I had the same experience. It’s a Twitter discussion about the incident and ends with a request for the very same link (which is not provided). Part of me wonders if Scott actually read it…

  17. Pedant says:

    It seems Trudeau’s reelection strategy is to call everyone who disagrees with him a racist. This is going to get boring very quickly.

    • Doug Brown says:

      The strategy worked well for the Chretien Liberals against the Reform Party.

      Trudeau continues his lucky streak. As others have pointed out, he could not have known this woman’s identity unless the whole incident was a setup.

    • Fred from BC says:

      You could say the same about a certain percentage of posters on this very website. Problem is, that strategy no longer works in this new age of instant information and social media….they just can’t let it go. Probably pining for the days when the Big Lie technique was in vogue, but that requires a primarily lean-leaning MSM that controls almost all news access.

  18. Thumper says:

    So it looks like Trudeau’s and the Liberal’s policy for the coming election is to brand any and all Canadians who disagree with their open borders and unlimited immigration policy as racists. It kind of reminds me of Hillary Clinton calling half her country’s citizens “deplorables”. It’s probably going to work out for Trudeau as well as it did for her!

    • Mike Jeffries says:

      The recent poll on immigration suggests that half of Canadians are ‘racists’! Last night I went to the local gym. I was the only white guy there. That would not bother me ordinarily since by grandparents were immigrants, BUT when no one was speaking English but some foreign language I began to feel like those in the poll. I began to feel unCanadian or like I was in another country. I’m not Conservative, not Liberal or anything except I was born in Canada and am wondering what is happening? Am I the only one? No, in my area many are feeling like this. I can now understand what happened to Angela Merkel! Can it happen here? Perhaps mad Max knows something!

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