, 09.26.2018 07:23 AM

Farber: the Premier must denounce this white supremacist, clearly

From my brother of another mother, Bernie Farber, in the Star:

It was Doug Ford’s “Trump moment.” We all remember the day after the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville and the murder of anti-racist protester Heather Heyer allegedly by a neo-Nazi. Trump insisted that there were “good people” on both sides.

Doug Ford may have done Trump one better. On Saturday, Faith Goldy, in the race for Toronto mayor, well-known for embracing and supporting white supremacist views, turned up at the Ford Fest BBQ in Vaughan. Following a photo-op with the premier, a scandal ensued as Ford refused to renounce Goldy, her white nationalist views and support to neo-Nazis when asked to do so in the legislature by the NDP.

Goldy is well-known to Ford. She was a colleague of the premier’s when they both appeared on SUN News panels. He was also interviewed by Goldy before she was fired from the ultra-right Rebel Media for her support of neo-Nazis in Charlottesville.

Goldy has a short but sordid history with white nationalist extremism. She didn’t start out that way. Articulate and engaging, Goldy was a devout Christian and a graduate of Trinity College at the University of Toronto. At Trinity, she received a Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Award recognizing outstanding extra-curricular contributions to the school.

From there Goldy took a sharp turn to the right. In 2015, Goldy was a co-host of a live public affairs program for Zoomer Media. I was asked to participate in a discussion on the Syrian refugee crisis. At first congenial and warm, Goldy turned right before my eyes into an anti-immigrant loudmouth hardly disguising her animus, permitting raucous racist comments from the partisan crowd.

Shortly thereafter, Goldy began her stint with Rebel Media. It seems that the influence of commentators there who engaged in anti-Semitic, racist and Islamophobic rhetoric helped turn her mind. And it was from her perch at Rebel Media that Goldy went fully into the nightmare world of white supremacy.

Warren Kinsella, author of the Web of Hate and a recognized expert on Canadian hate groups had this to say about Goldy’s experience in Charlottesville:

“The breaking point came in Charlottesville, which she was sent to cover for Ezra’s online lunatic asylum, where she’d be seen doing a stand-up not far from the woman who was mowed down by a white supremacist. That terrible week, Faith appeared on the pro-Nazi Daily Stormer, opining that there was a need for a rise in “white racial consciousness.” She also proclaimed that National Socialist types have “robust” and “well-thought-out” ideas on “the Jewish question.” Levant, a Jew and no anti-Semite himself, finally fired her.”

From that point on, her descent was rapid. She began to appear on white supremacist media sites where she recited the infamous “14 words.” (We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.) It is the credo of white supremacy evolved by David Lane, leader of the neo-Nazi terrorist group “The Order.” Lane was convicted and sentenced for violating the civil rights of Alan Berg, then a Jewish talk show host who was murdered in June 1984. Three members of “The Order” shot Berg in his driveway. Lane drove the get-away car.

Goldy’s meteoric rise in the far right continued. Appearing on a far- right television program, Goldy hyped the anti-Semitic tome For My Legionaries. Written in the 1930s, the renowned Southern Poverty Law Center describes it as “the canonical works of global fascism.” It advocated the genocide of Jews even before Hitler enacted the Holocaust. Goldy described it as “very, very, very, very spot on. . .”

David Duke, infamous former Grand Wizard of the KKK, tweeted out her messages that included such gems as “the future is far right.”

Ford has condemned hate speech but refuses to renounce Goldy by name and her associations. His words do not live up to his actions. Canadians still expect decency and leadership from those we put in office. Ford can still make this right, but not until he fully dissociates himself from those like Faith Goldy and their vile ideas.

Bernie M. Farber is chair of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network.

 

10 Comments

  1. Eric Weiss says:

    Ford is popular with the white supremacist crowd. They backed him right from the start. I don’t know if he is a bigot or not, but they certainly think he is. Between this, Harper’s “barbaric practices hotline” and Blandy Scheer hiring Rebel Media staff to run his campaign, it’s pretty evident that modern Canadian Conservatives don’t mind playing footsie with white supremacists and Islamophobic bigots.

  2. Peter says:

    So he has already condemned hate speech and no one seems to be suggesting he shares her views. Distance himself from them and reject what she says if asked, sure, but I don’t think premiers and prime ministers should be in the game of denouncing citizens (the word means call them evil). It’s become a virtue-signalling game for political opponents looking for “gotcha moments”. Plus Ford is right that it’s ridiculous to imply he endorses what everyone who appears in a photo with him stands for.

    • Matt says:

      Justin Trudeau endorses beating women because he appeared in a photo with phony “Taliban hostage” Joshua Boyle

      See?

      Everyone can play that game

      • Art says:

        Not sure why Warren lets obvious far right apologists like you two on his site. He’s definitely more open minded to your type than I would be.

        • Warren says:

          Here, again, are the rules. Everyone should abide by them. Thanks.

          1. No libel. Having practiced libel law, I am the sole judge of what is and isn’t.

          2. Stick to the topic, please. Being wildly off-topic, or getting into a long and boring fight with another commenter, is a good way to be asked not to come back.

          3. Don’t overpost. If you are posting more than ten comments a day, you are posting too much. You will be encouraged to start your own web site.

          4. Be honest. People who use their real name, with verified email addresses, will get favoured commenter status. People who hide behind aliases and fake email addresses won’t.

          5. Bad behaviour will be punished! Similarly, no promise is offered, express or implicit, to keep identities and identifying info secret. If you try to post something very offensive, libellous or worse, expect to be named.

        • Matt says:

          You clearly missed my point, but whatever.

  3. Merrill Smith says:

    When he has his arm around her, he is endorsing her and what she stands for.

  4. Campbell says:

    Warren, I hope you are now starting to see why, despite his apparent decency towards you after Chow treated you so badly, Ford is a terrible thing for Ontario and for Toronto. I can understand why you were seeking to give him a chance, and were pushing back against those suffering from “Ford derangement syndrome”, but the fact of the matter is that there really is a good reason to aggressively oppose his agenda simply because of who he is.

  5. Robert White says:

    Feudal Lord Ford is a right wing populist functionary of the Republican Party in the USA. He mirrors their rhetoric on the campaign trail and in terms of legislative scumbagdouchery.

    Feudal Lord Ford wants to limit immigration as does Cheeto et al. Ford is merely hanging on to USA style Fascism for everything he can attain from it politically. His denial of alliance with the rabid dog Fascist scumbagdouchery of The Duck & White Nationalist Functionally Retarded riff-raff down South [where Southern Man never seemed to change his ways since the 60s] is telling to say the least.

    Feudal Lord Ford will avail himself of any advantage however seemly it appears to Canadians because he is carrying on a Republican Party tradition of institutionalized racism & hate towards anyone that is not a political bigot like himself, and his late brother who refused to attend any
    Gay Pride parades in Toronto during his tenure.

    Republican Party hate extends to politics in CANADA, unfortunately.

    Thank you for pointing out Ford’s untoward alliances with the right wing racists of the Republican Party persuasion.

    Legislators in CANADA must have a zero tolerance policy for this sort of thing and I agree that Ford needs to publically denounce the douchebags of racism wherever they exist.

    RW

  6. ottlib says:

    When PM Trudeau had a dinner guest during his India trip who turned out to have ties to a Sikh terrorist group Conservatives and the media lost their minds. They accused Mr. Trudeau of being soft on terrorism and in some cases they even implied that that he might have supported that particlar terrorist group.

    Fast forward to Doug Ford having a photo op with a prominent member of the alt-right hate movement in Canada and Conservatives deny that it has any significance. He is just the Premier posing with constituents.

    The hypocracy is exquisite.

    The difference between the two. It is probable that the Indian dinner guest received an invitation by error. Someone did not do a proper job of vetting him and he was not known as being a prominent member of a terrorist group.

    Faith Goldy is a hate filled person who has never tried to hide that fact. She is prominent in the network of hate groups that infest our society so no one can say that Mr. Ford made a mistake.

    As I said, the hypocracy is exquisite.

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