Andrew Scheer and The Rebel Ties That Bind

As we all know, Andrew Scheer has vowed not to grant more interviews to Ezra Levant's hate mongering Rebel until it changes its "editorial direction."

Whatever that means.

But after having spent so much time with the Rebel, and after having one of Levant's flunkies run his Con leadership campaign, severing the ties that bind isn't easy.

So one moment he's Mr Positive, or Mr Cheery Scheery, whooping it up with Jason Kenney.



The next moment he's Mr Darkness.



And sounding like Levant himself.

Trying to whip up hatred against refugee claimants or asylum seekers, for crass political purposes.

While his Cons refuse to say whether they'll let the Rebel keep selling their ghastly swag at CPC events. 

The Conservative party sold space in the corridors outside each of its last two conventions to the Rebel — in Vancouver in 2016 and at the leadership convention last May from which Scheer emerged the victor — so the outlet could set up a booth to promote its incendiary brand of conservatism and sell its wares to delegates.

Among the items on sale at the leadership event were T-shirts emblazoned with "I Believe in the Separation of Mosque and State" and a book by Rebel contributor Lauren Southern entitled "Barbarians: How Baby Boomers, Immigrants and Islam Screwed My Generation."

Conservative party spokesman Cory Hann did not respond Friday when asked if the Rebel would be allowed to set up booths at future party events.

As Faith Goldy, Scheer's favourite Rebel, is doing here...



But while the Liberals call for this trade with hate mongers to end. 

Scheer is doubling down on his vow to force universities to allow hate mongers to peddle their wares to students.  

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said "extreme examples," like the University of Toronto's telling a white nationalist group it doesn't have permission to hold a rally on campus, shouldn't be used to detract from his promise to halt federal funding to universities that fail to uphold free speech. 

 "I won't allow kind of those extreme examples to be used as a justification for what's going on campuses here in Canada," Scheer said responding to a question about the Toronto incident and the removal of controversial monuments.

And still refusing to say why most Cons, haven't denounced Levant and his hate mongers, or why those who did slap them with a wet noodle, took so long. 



Despite the fact that The Rebel's editorial bread and butter is an endless stream of seething, paranoid invective toward Muslims – with snarky slams at women thrown in – little besides headlining at Rebel events has been remarked upon by Conservative Party faithful.

Ms. Goldy's video, White Genocide in Canada?, warning that white Canadians are being "replaced," came out on The Rebel in May, virtually unremarked-upon. Star Rebel contributor Gavin McInnes's hateful anti-semitic rants of this past March were largely given a pass as "satire." (Literal pro-tip: They're not.) Yet shortly after winning the leadership race, Andrew Scheer granted an interview to The Rebel. His campaign manager, Hamish Marshall, served on the Rebel's board until stepping down just last week.

And as Heather Mallick points out, at a time when Donald Trump is poisoning his country, Scheer, the Rebel, and other right-wingers are trying to do the same thing in Canada.



The more American social norms stretch, the more I love Canadian ones, but then along came Levant and the CBC online commenters to make me doubt my nation. Along comes Conservative leader Andrew Scheer dog-whistling against Haitians crossing our border in preparation for Trump sending them back to Haiti. 

Canadians are very rule-based. They line up well. They get most irate about... parking. It’s fear of events getting out of control that would trouble them.

So Scheer is poking us with a stick. He is criticizing Ottawa but not saying what he would do instead, a trick that reveals his contempt for his own voters. He is doing a Trump and roiling the base. How base will the base turn out to be?

That poison is spreading. 



Police arrested two people Saturday during the largest protest in recent memory in London, Ont., which pitted anti-Islam groups against counter-protesters. 

A group called the Patriots of Canada Against the Islamization of the West (PEGIDA) had organized the rally on social media. Other far-right groups — including one called the Three Per Cent — had supporters there. They were wearing camouflage and black flak jackets.

And it's time to send a message to Scheer, and Levant, and all those other fascist goons.

Canada is NOT Trump's America.

Stop playing your dirty racist games, before you take this country to a very dark place...