Canadian Fascism Eh? Part 1

Canada is seen as a liberal haven but it's far from immune to far right politics. This episode we look at the history of Fascism and Nationalism in Canada from the early 20th Century, up until 2019.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
That's gonna that's gonna be way too charring to open
an episode. Ware, Well, we already did it, so keep moving. Yeah,
uh huh. Um, the episode is actually going to start
with Garrison saying that's way too jarring to open an
episode with, and the listeners won't know that much. That
is a much easier opening. Um, alright, so we're doing

(00:23):
I'm gonna be I'm gonna be reading a thing today
and then we're going to talk about the thing that
we're reading. Um, and and and who are you? And
who is here? Oh? Yeah, this is it could happen here,
this is it could happen here. I'm I'm Garrison, I
am our resident Canadian. Yeah, that's Anderson. That's Anderson the
dog in here. We had we had to hire a

(00:43):
Canadian for a diversity quota. You do not anyway, We
have Chris here, Robert Evans as usual. Um, Sophie, So
we're gonna talk about We're gonna talk a little bit
about about Canada today. So in the in like the
scripted what if scenarios first positive in the original it

(01:06):
could happen here. Um. It detailed what it might be
like to live in the United States during a modern
civil conflict. And like one of the stories that we
kind of tell ourselves as a culture is about you know,
crossing up into the safe haven of Canada whenever stuff
breaks out in the States. Um, whether that be like
an escape from just the hell that's us politics, um,

(01:27):
or you know, going up into the cold northern terrain
better equipped to deal with climate change. Canada is kind
of just viewed as a bastien of like of liberal
democracy in North America. Um. You know, I've I've made
jokes in the past about using my Canadian passport to
escape up into the forest of Alberta when things get
too dicey here in the States. But this like weird
utopian view of Canada is not just wrong about Canada's

(01:50):
current political state, but also assumes that a Canada is
like immune to the political shifts that the States have
gone through the past few years. Which is it's it's
very obviously not um so like Canada internationally is and
specifically in the States, it's it's used as like, you know, Canada,
it's it's used it's like America's little brother, but it's

(02:11):
you know, it's much more you know, democratic, it's much
more liberal. It's like it's like this kind of ideal
scenario for like what the state's could be. And like
Canadians have a weird view of the States as well.
Like Canadians, they're both like the like they're kind of obsessed,
Like a lot of Canadians think no more about US
politics and then they know about Canadian politics, um, but

(02:34):
almost in like a way that we watch sports. It's
it's like it's like this thing that we like watch
as entertainment, like like some kind of like sick reality show.
That's how I think a lot of Canadians really view
US politics, um, because it's just so wacky compared to
the kind of more like civil parliamentary system that we
have in Canada. US politics just looks very very bizarre,

(02:56):
and there's always this notion it's like, no matter how
bad things can get in Canada, at least we're not
the States, at least at least we're not at least
we're not the US. And that is kind of a
lot of a lot of how a lot of stuff
can get really get can just like surviving Canada longer,
because it's just they view it like at least, at

(03:17):
least we're not as bad as the other people. So
that's how you know, it gives them kind of some
kind of sense of security. But in terms of like
in terms of Canada as a country, you know, we
we we've said that Canada as a country is basically
just you know, a few mining companies in a trench coat,
and the trench coat is healthcare. Um. And that's that's
really all they are is as as as a country. UM.

(03:38):
But today we're gonna be talking about kind of Canada's
slide towards farther right wing politics, UM. Both you know,
historically and then more recently, because a lot of what
we've seen in the States has happened kind of in
its own weird Canadian way around the same time. UM.
But before we before we really get started, I think

(04:00):
could be remiss not to mention how the Canadian government
has historically treated Indigenous and First Nations people um. Living
on that land. Of course, it's like not only just
hundreds of years ago, but a lot more recently as well.
Just in the past year, there have been thousands and
thousands of like hidden graves found across the provinces at
the sites of these residential schools, UM and the process
of looking for these on Mark Graves has like just

(04:22):
just started. UM. The Canadian Historical Association published a letter
this past Canada Day Canada Day is like Independence Day
but for Canada, UM, saying that it was abundantly clear
that Canada is guilty of is guilty of genocide. UM.
I know there's there's a few episodes Behind the Bastards
UM and I think even worse here that that talk
about residential schools UM and and the genocide of Indigenous Canada.

(04:46):
So you can you can check those out. And I
wrote this episode to be more focused on Canada's political
shifts the past five years. But since we're talking to
be talking about Canadian fascism, I thought it would be
irresponsible to not mention this upfront as like a thing
responsible and very responsible. So I'm gonna try to take
us through aspects of Canadians of Canada's politics chronologically. UM.

(05:08):
You guys can button and kind of ask questions and
clarifications about stuff. UM. But the first thing that we're
gonna start with is actually going to be on the
First Nations the side of things, and that that's kind
of how that that's what mostly Indigenous people are called
in Canada's First Nations. Um. Even you know, the Indigenous
people up in Canada most amused that term. So that's
the term I'll be using for some some of this stuff,
just because that's the one that's used up there. Um.

(05:30):
So the the residential schools program is where I'm gonna
briefly mention a few things about it, just because of
how it kind of relates to some of the stuff
that we're gonna be talking with for the rest of
the episode. UM yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna read someone.
I'm gonna read some words by by Duncan Campbell Scott.
Who was the department who was who was the Deputy

(05:51):
Superintendent of Indian Affairs. This was like a rank in
the Canadian government. Um. He served as the Deputy Superintendent
from nineteen thirteen to nineteen thirty two. UM. And he's
arguably like the main architect of the residential schools program. Um.
He was. He was also good friends with the first
Prime Minister of Canada, John John John McDonald. So here's

(06:14):
here's here's how this guy the the architect of this program.
This is this is how he kind of talked talked
about this in letters to both his like his underlings,
and just like openly quote it is readily acknowledged that
Indian children lose their natural resistance to illness by habituating
so close in the residential schools, and that they die

(06:34):
at a much higher rate than in their villages. But
this does not justify a change in the policy of
this department, which is geared towards a final solution for
our Indian problem. It is quite within the market to
say that fifty percent of children who passed through these
schools did not live to benefit from the education in
which they had received. So that's that's just what he
calls it. He he says, the final solution to the

(06:55):
Indian problem. It's very very very clear. What what like,
that's just the language he uses. And this was like
before Hitler though, like this was this was paying attention
to these Yeah, yeah, like this this is just like
this is the mindset of all of these same people.
This is all of all of the same thing. Um.
Another another another quote from this dude is I want

(07:17):
to get rid of the Indian problem. I do not
think of it as a matter of fact that the
country ought to continually protect a class of people who
are able to stand alone. That's my whole point. Our
objective is to continue until there's not a single Indian
in Canada that has not been absorbed into the into
the body politic, and there's no Indian question and no
Indian department. That is the whole objective of this bill.

(07:37):
The bill referring to the residential schools program. So that's
that's how he talks about these things. Um. There there's
other letters that he's sent that's like telling his um,
his like agents because he had like agents stationed at
at Canadian at Canadian reserves to like not let Indians
do dancing because both that's you know, that's doing their

(07:58):
cultural practice, but also it'll astract them from learning how
to do Western farming. Um, Like they weren't allowed to
go to fairs or exhibitions or anything that you like
that anything that has like that is reminiscent of like
any kind of cultural tradition that is not white in European. Um.
So he he is, he is a pretty pretty pretty

(08:19):
bad dude. He probably deserves his own his own thing
that this this specific guy. But you can can you
can kind of see like these like fascist ideas and
rhetoric are not foreign to Canada. Um. And you know,
it's been there since its infancy. And now Canadian politics
is very different in a lot of ways compared to
American politics. Uh. Canada tries to kind of follow the
European model, whereas America is very much like the rebel

(08:40):
state that tries to play on its play by its
own rules. Um. Kind of the first main difference is
that Canada isn't a two party system. Um. It's it's
more like a two party plus system, because yeah, there
still is the main Liberals in the main Conservatives, but
there are there are other parties that actually can get elected. Um.
And it's it's not it's not like a strictly two
party system the same way the States is. So that

(09:01):
makes things more interesting. Um. And another thing that's really
interesting about like a cultural politics that's that's different from
the States. You know. Besides, you know, Canada obviously has
like a parliament and a prime minister. That's different, but
that Canada view and Canadians view nationalism and patriotism very differently, uh,
compared to to like United States. Um. Citizens patriotism and

(09:27):
in some ways nationalism have always been kind of more
of a liberal progressive thing, um, you know, in the
opposition to the States, where it is not really seen
as a liberal progressive thing. Um. It's like, even under
conservative leadership, Canada kind of prides itself as as sort
of like liberal utopia. And that's where a lot of
the patriotism and celebration of Canada comes from among its

(09:47):
you know, mostly liberal and more socially progressive citizens. They
like celebrate Canada as like this great progressive nation, and
that's where a lot of the patriotism comes from, is like,
oh look, look how progressive we are. Um. Then the
nationalists in part can be a bit more tricky, uh,
because you first need to understand like the English and
French divide which within the country, which I barely understand

(10:08):
that to be honest, I was I was, I was.
I was born in the Prairies. That was you know,
much more of like the Protestant English English settlement. You know,
I'm not from Quebec, but we'll be talking about Quebec
a lot here because it is very important to how
nationalism works in Canada. So the divide between the French
and the English make elections really interesting because the English

(10:29):
majority politicians usually need to court some of the French
Canadian population and and people in Quebec in order to
get enough parliamentary seats to have a majority government, because
Canada works on having a majority within the parliament. Um,
you can have a minority in in in the parliament
like the Liberals currently have. So even if you know,
someone doesn't win a plurality of votes, that can still

(10:51):
be in control of the government in any in a
minority or usually a majority capacity. We'll get into this
kind of stuff later. Um. But even though they need
to get see from Quebec to have you know, a
decent control of parliament, Quebec kind of likes to act
like its own special country. Um. They even have their
own like federal political party, uh the block Kebuqua and

(11:11):
so like that. That that's a that's a federal party
that operates in forwarding the interests of Quebec. Sometimes it
functions as like a separatist party, but not really anymore.
Um So, although the Blockbuqua is a lot is a
lot more secular and progressive than basically any any other
major party outside of the n d P UM but

(11:34):
despite them being much more like socially progressive, that are
also like one of the biggest nationalist parties UM in Canada.
And you know, the far right parties in Canada have
had always had their you know brand of ethno nationalism,
but that was that's that's been much less pronounced than
the kind of like keep non French Canadians out of

(11:55):
Quebec and keep Americans out of Canada type of nationalism
that's common with like liberals UM and specifically you know,
progressives inside Quebec, which you can't blame them for wanting
to keep Americans no, yeah, like you can good sense,
if I could keep Americans out of America, I would
do it. Yeah. But so that kind of sentiment, you
can see how that connect, like you know, be used

(12:16):
to foster some not good things though that that that
that specific type of thinking of of like keeping nationals,
like you know, keeping four nationals out of your state. Yeah,
it's good to not have Americans there, but you know
that's going to get extended towards other people's unfortunate yeah,
and and like so even though you know, the nationalism
can be a lot more progressive, that's not to say

(12:38):
as no nationalism does not come up within these sets
UM which is going to bring us to UH when
when a briefly talk about something from the thirties called
the called the National Unity Party of the National Unity
Party of Canada. Um, the National Unique Party, National Unity Party.
That is a weird thing to say. Um was was

(12:58):
originally called the Canadian National Socialist Unity Party. Oh wait,
now that remind national socialism That seems like a term
with a little bit of baggage. Yeah, remember correctly, yep,
it sort of does. Um so that this was a
party formed in nineteen thirty four by a little Nazi

(13:22):
shirt head named Adrian Urkhan. Um. Now that is if
you cannot tell that it's me trying to say a
French name. So he is from Quebec. This is a
lot of Canadian Nazi stuff originates inside Quebec because it
already has such nationalist tendencies. Um So, our cons introduction
into nationalism started around the turn of the century amid

(13:42):
fears in Quebec that Chinese immigration would threaten the white
French Canadian working class. Um. This is still a big
thing in Canada. Uh. Racism and nationalism against the Chinese
is still a big thing. We will talk about this
at the very end of this of this, of of
these episodes, because it's still a thing the Conservative Party
talks about a lot um. So, yeah, his his internnationalism

(14:06):
was because of fears of Chinese immigration in the early
nineteen hundreds. Um, the the anti his so his anti
immigrants upbringing, plus the fact that he attended the Catholic
school um that there there there was no there was
no public schools in Quebec until the nineteen sixties. All
of the schools were either Catholic or Protestant. Now, this
is also part of the cultural divide inside Canada where

(14:27):
usually the English speakers are Protestant and they're usually further
west and the and the Catholics are usually you know,
French Canadians. There's a lot of that inside Quebec. Um,
so he went to a Catholic school, of which were
at the time very anti Jewish because what was happening
is the Jewish people in Quebec wanted to make their
own Jewish schools and the Catholics, like in charge, didn't

(14:48):
want that because then that'd be less people were inside
Catholic schools and they weren't you know, learning Catholicism. So
there's a lot, a lot of stuff going on here
that is kind of extreme contributing. So he was you know,
already anti immigrant because of the Chinese and then he
got got exposed to anti Semitism inside its Catholic schools
UM and that you know, pushed him onto this specific path.
So in nineteen thirty R. Khan made a deal with

(15:08):
the head of the Conservative Party RB Bennett that in
exchange for fifteen thousand dollars, which is like two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars in today's money, Our our con
would craft a smear campaign UM trying to assist the
Conservatives in basically smearing the Liberals to gain more Conservative
support inside the province of Quebec, which at the time
was majority liberal leaning. So Our Khan got to work

(15:31):
and started prepping you like pseudo fascist propaganda for the
Conservatives UM. And by the nineteen thirty federal election it
absolutely worked UM Bennett and the Conservatives one they gained
twenty four parliamentary seats in Quebec, which is a massive success.
Like before they did not win any seats in Quebec,
so gaining twenty four seats in for over the course
of just one election, massive win. UM so after getting

(15:53):
the after getting the Conservatives elected, the Conservative Party dropped
our Khan because he was you know, a little hashtag
problem matic um uh huh. So after he got dropped
by the Conservatives short shortly later, our Khan made contact
with the growing Nationalist Socialist Party in Germany. Um. And
over the next few years he just he started to

(16:13):
gain more fascist contacts around the world. He would exchange
letters people from people like people, people from the German
Nazis would come over and meet with what and come
over to Canada and see what he was doing. He
would travel around meeting other other Nazis around the world. Um.
So it's kind of just like just gaining a lot,
a lot more contacts. So then in nineteen thirty four
he formed his own fascist party, which is the Canadian

(16:34):
National Socialist Unity Party. And within that year, so in
in the you know, midnighteen thirties, it merged with other
Canadian nationalist parties that were more based in the west,
so you know, in the prairies like Alberta, Saskatchewan and BC.
So he emerged a few other kind of nationalist groups
and started gaining traction, getting thousands and thousands of members.
This actually became an actual thing. You can find footage

(16:56):
of of his rallies and they're just terrifying, just like
you know, just it's the same thing whenever you see
like the Nazis, you know, rallying in Britain. You know,
it's it feels different than watching a Nazi rally in
Germany because you can feel a lot more, you know,
if it's it's it's the same feeling. But come but
come home your own countrymen kind of do the same
thing that you associate with the old footage of dead

(17:17):
people is exactly. Yeah. So he was getting thousand numbers
across Canada, um you know, mostly in the provinces of
of Quebec and Alberta. So the two main provinces we're
to talk about are going to be Quebeca and and
Alberta because that's where a lot of a lot of
the far right stuff gets started out. Um So in
ninety eight, so that's like four years after he started this, Uh,

(17:40):
the Canadian National Socialist Unity Party merged again, this time
with various nationalist group groups and so called swastika clubs
um in that we're already inside like Ontario and Quebec.
So on the eastern side of Canada. So now he
he united both the Quebec stuff Eastern Canada and Western Canada.
And then he called that the nack Sational Unity Party.

(18:01):
Um and Our Khan appointed himself the Canadian fural Gosh.
Yes so, and I'm going to quote from a Time
Time magazine piece from July of ninety eight, Our Cohn
scheduled Canada's first national fascist convention for Kingston, Ontario. The
mayor and city council did not want a fascist convention

(18:22):
held in their city and called the police to prevent it. Defiantly,
Leader Arkhan slipped forty five of his leaders into a
room near police headquarters. It's this old tibe language held
forth unmolested for five and a half hours. Upon emerging,
Leader Arkhan wired thanks to the mayor for his courtesy
extended and announced the formation of the new National Unity Party.

(18:43):
A flaming torch will be the new party's emblem Canada
for Canadians, it's slogan and the upraised arm of its
salute for king Country and Christianity. Moving on to Ontario,
Leader Arkhan supported by eighty five of his blue shirts.
He claims there were eighty thousand members at the time
held a meeting in Mancy Hall that that was attended

(19:06):
by about eight hundred sympathizers. More impressive, however, there were
three anti fascist counter demonstrations held simultaneously. Two outdoor anti
fascist meetings drew four hundred persons until broken up by
police fearing a clash, but at maple Leaf Gardens the
Canadian League of Peace and Democracy attracted ten thousand so

(19:26):
as was the first big fascist rally in Canada. There
was like, you know, ten thousands of these more liberal
people rallying elsewhere and four hundred like anti fascists ready
to you know, beat up these Nazis. Um what then
the police beat them up. Because history doesn't change times
of flat circle, we're still doing the same thing. Now.
Do you know who won't rally eight hundred Canadian Nazis

(19:48):
called the Blue Shirts to sell you products us promise that, yeah,
depending depending what Hello Fresh has recently been sending there.
Why do you always pick Hello Fresh? There are so
many worse brands that we can't ignore the fact that

(20:11):
they've been increasingly building their militant capacity for the last
seven years. Anyway, here's some ads we have too much
to read and we are back talking about the Canadian
Blue shirts. UM, hello fresh, hello shut please continue Blue

(20:39):
aprons arons. Thanks Chris, Thanks Chris for saving the bit.
All right, thank you. Um. So next year after his
first rally, nine, World War two obviously started to ramp
up and the Canadian government arrested our Cohn for plotting
to overthrow the state UM and his National Unity Party
was banned from federal elections. Our Khan was released from

(21:01):
prison after the war, but he continued his political aspirations. UM.
He ran for a federal election twice in Quebec, once
in nineteen forty nine and once in nineteen fifty three.
Both times he uh he ran under his National Unity
Party banner, despite it being banned from elections. I don't
know how he did that, um, both times. Laws are fake. Yeah.
Both times he placed second with over five and a

(21:23):
half five and a half thousand votes, which was about
like thirty percent of of of the vote. Um. Actually,
but the second time he ran as he ran just
under a nationalist banner UM, and he got second as well,
but he got like the vote, so he did a
slight slightly better just running as a nationalist in Quebec.
Not like the National Unity thing, because that was you know,
more overtly Nazi. But he kept holding National Unity Party

(21:45):
public rallies until the mid sixties. His last rally, I
think attracted like one thousand supporters, too many. I was
hoping you were going to say, like three, and there
was probably sad footage, but that's sad in a different way. Yeah.
So he finally died in nineteen sixty seven, and with
him also died the National Unity Party. I So I

(22:09):
bring this one up because it's one funked up and
interesting um and too. It's like it's indicative of the
weirdness that can come out of Quebec's nationalist political bent. Uh.
We can see that now with a modern fact, you know,
neo fascist Canadian political party that's based out of Quebec,
which we will talk about shortly, um. But even like
the nationalist tendencies within Quebec's more mainstream progressive population, Like

(22:33):
I'm going to read some of the policy positions of
the block Keebuqua party. That's that's that that's the that's
like the Quebec sovereignty you know, party that is still
actually very very popular in in elections, specifically in Quebec.
And just ahead of this, if you're a French speaker
and you're frustrated by Garrison's pronunciations or my pronunciations of Quebecua,

(22:55):
that your language isn't real and it's fine, and you're
from the French. Yeah, and you're responsible for this Nazi
so unlike unlike English speakers who have been responsible for Spanish.
That's my take, okay, anyway, saying Spanish here here here
is the progressive liberal block kibu qua policy positions UM

(23:19):
Quebec sovereignty you know, up into independence. But usually it's
just you know, them pushing the interests of Quebec. Um. Environmentalism,
abortion rights, you know, pro abortion rights UM, l G
l G l g B, t Q rights UM, the
legalization of of assisted suicide, UM, opposition to Canadian participation
in the Iraq war. UM abolition, abolition of the abolition

(23:42):
of the monarchy. All right, Uh? Forcing forcing immigrants to
speak French in Quebec lost, blocking immigration to Quebec. You've
also lost me. The Quebec Secularism law, which bans public
workers in positions of authority from wearing just symbols primarily
targeted at Muslims and seeks exemption Quebec's exemption from the

(24:08):
requirements of the Multiculturalism Act. Yeah. I mean, I don't
know the Multicultural Act, but it's great. It's it's it's good.
So yeah, so you can kind of see how like
they have you know, all these like, you know, pretty good,
pretty good progressive sings, and then and then they get
really anti immigrant, right, so this is like, this is
kind of hard to explain to Americans, how like you

(24:30):
can be very like pro gay, pro you know, abolition
of the monarchy, but then also be like, no, but
we don't want those brown people in Quebec. Yeah. So yeah, anyway,
we're we're gonna move on from Quebec specifically, but don't worry,
we will be back because you're still a problem. But
there there are there are other things too, are other
things to discuss. So after our cons fascist Canadian movement,

(24:53):
there was a stint of like Canadian skinheads in the seventies,
you know, around the same time as the UK and
the US UM In the seventies, there was an unsuccessful
Nazi party called the Nationalist Party of Canada that spawned
a skinhead gang called Heritage Front Um Heritage Front disbanded
around the mid two thousands because the Canadian Feds infiltrated
it and kind of you know, cut that down, so

(25:15):
critical support to the Canadian fans. But now we're gonna
move on to unite the right. Uh not not not
the United Right that you're thinking of, the Canadian Unite
the Right movement from the ninety nineties and early two thousands.
But that one probably wasn't problematic right there. It has
no lasting problems. So because of Canada, because of Canada's

(25:36):
multi multiparty system, there's more opportunity for ideologically similar parties
to split the vote, you know, of people leaning in
a certain direction. Um. Throughout most of the later half
of the twentieth century, they were multiple conservative right wing
parties that were operating at the same time, which did
split the right of center vote. This is in part
what allowed Canada to rise as like a liberal haven,

(25:56):
because for a while the Conservatives just couldn't get elected
because they were in the vote too many ways, leaving
the main Liberal party to win the vast majority of elections. UM. Obviously,
this frustrated right wing politicians and vote and voters than
in the nineteen nineties, there were there were there were
two main right wing parties. There was the older Progressive
Conservative Party. They're like a classically fiscal conservative party with

(26:18):
slightly less socially conservative beliefs, so you know, I would
rather take them compared to the alternatives here. Um. The
other major party was a right of center party called
the Reform Party, which was much more of like a
right wing populist and extremely socially conservative party, more similar
to like the Trump era Republican Party. You know, they're
they're they're they're much they're much more right wing populist,

(26:40):
they're way more socially conservative, kind of what we traditionally
think of as like, you know, like a racist Republican
that this this this is their party called called the
Reform Party. So after after loss after loss throughout the
nineties and during the turn of the century, concertative efforts
were being made between these two parties to unite into one.
In nineteen, there was a Unite the Right conference held

(27:00):
in Toronto, Ontario, trying to bring together politicians and delegates
from these two main conservative parties. But they also brought
in some much more extreme Christian fascist parties, which there
was like four of at the time. There was a
lot of a lot of Christian fascist parties around this time. Um,
So the conference garnered a negative news coverage in part
to due to the inclusion of these far right Christian

(27:22):
extremist parties. And then after the conference, polls were conducted
that suggested that many of the Progressive Conservative supporters would
rather vote liberal than vote for the new kind of merged,
more extreme right wing party. So like a lot of
these a lot of these fiscal conservatives are like, no,
I'm not going to vote for all of this weird racism.
I just don't want there to be higher taxes. So

(27:42):
like I'm gonna I'm gonna rather vote for the liberals
than vote for these fucking weirdos, which I mean, yeah,
that's that, that's the conservative I would rather have. Ye.
Um So, the conference didn't sit well with the with
the Progressive Conservative Party, um it's politicians or or the
political leaders. So the merger plans were cut off. They're like, no,

(28:03):
we're not going to do this. You guys are too
weird and racist. We're not doing this. Um. Then in
two thous No, I think it is important that this
was after nine eleven. I think this is really the
reason why this happened. UM one of the original Reform
Party founders that the Reform Party is the more populist one.
So one of the original founders named Stephen Harper, took

(28:23):
control of the populist Conservative Party and worked to improve
the optics of the more extreme sides of his party.
I think it's very important that this this happened after
nine eleven, and this is how the merger actually worked.
So in two thousand three, merger talks sort of up again,
and in August of that year the two parties announced
the merger had been completed. There was a new United
Conservative Party. UM. In the announcement, Harper is quoted as saying,

(28:45):
our swords will henceforth be pointed at the Liberals, not
to each other, And in December Harper was voted in
as the new party leader. The work did pay off
in the two US and six Canadian federal election. The
Conservatives gained a controlling minority government among the electorate, with
the former co founder of the extremist you know, populist
Reform Party, Stephen Harper, becoming the new Prime Minister of Canada.

(29:09):
So this is how he got from Reform Party to
being the you know, the prime minister in through the
through the two thousand's um he was the prime Minister
of Canada for most of the time I lived there.
That that that's who I think of when I think
of the Prime Minister of Canada's I think of Stephen Harper.
So Harper remained as Prime minister until the two thousand
and fifteen election that saw noted black face appreciator Justin
Trudeau elected under the Liberal Party. So that's good. What

(29:35):
a good system we have that that that man like
just your range of his blood. Look, say what you
will about the man, very careful, know you under no
circumstances gonna hand it to him. You do not, in
fact have to hand it to him. Well, you have

(29:57):
to hand him the little towel that he uses to
get the black face off of his face. He can
go into his work running Canada. Uh huh, yep, cool country.
Didn't find out that like five of our governors all
had black face photos. It was it was. It was

(30:18):
a big year for black face. It really, it's incredible
because I can't picture like again, I grew up very
right wing and definitely had some said some uncomfortable things
in my time. I don't think there was ever a
point in which I would have been like, yeah, this
seems like a good idea. It's what the fuck like? Yeah,

(30:39):
it's pretty What is the joke there? It's pretty it's
pretty bad. Justin Trudeau liberal, Yeah, he is. He is
the one. All of the wind Mom's thirst over. Yeah,
that's scans, that's not yeah anyway. Um, Beyond making it

(31:04):
easier to vote in right of center candidates, what what
the Canadian Unite the Right accomplished was pushing the conservative
establishment much further to the right than what the previously
popular Progressive Conservatives had established, while maintaining the respectability and
civility the progressive Conservatives had cultivated. We are now going
to skip ahead to two thousand seventeen. UM. In January seventeen,

(31:26):
soon after the US President Donald Trump put into place
the travel band from from you know, seven Muslim majority countries,
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered a message via Twitter to
those fleeing persecution, terror, and war. Canadians will welcome you,
regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength. Hashtag welcome
to Canada. So Trudeau is like, if the US is

(31:48):
gonna be racist. We're gonna we're gonna let them in. UM.
For this uh, for this next part, I'm going to
quote from the New York Times. UM. Just hours after
watching the television reports East in Canada would accept immigrants
that were shunned by Trump, the twenty eight year old
political science student packed his glock, handgun and rifle and

(32:08):
trudged through the snow covered streets of Quebec to a
nearby Islamic cultural center. As fifty three men were finishing
evening prayers. He unloaded forty eight rounds. Six people were killed,
several of them with shots to the head, and nineteen
others were injured. One was paralyzed for life. In the
month before his rampage, the shooter tralled the Internet eight
hundred and nineteen times for posts related to Mr Trump,

(32:32):
reading his Twitter feed daily, and homing in on the
American president's travel ban on several Muslim majority countries. He
kept a cash of guns underneath his bed at his
parents house, and among his friends was just his twin brother.
The shooter told investigators that he wished he had killed
more people and he wanted to protect his family from
Islamic terrorists. Experts on Radicalization say that in Quebec, the

(32:52):
French speaking province surrounded by an English speaking majority, the
anti immigrant far right offers fertile, fertile, imperilous ground first
ecologically unstable youths seeking a sense of identity and a
scapegoat the head of the Canadian based Center of Prevention
of Radicalization leading to Violence, they said that the Quebec
mosque shooter was in part of was part of a

(33:12):
growing number of educated, middle class to white youths in
Quebec drawn to far right ideas, fueled by the election
of Mr Trump and fanned by fears of immigration that
threatens Quebec's identity. When the Anti Radicalization Center was started
in two thousand and fifteen, they dealt with sixteen cases
of youths in the province that we're getting radicalized by
the far right. Last year, which was like six uh,

(33:32):
this center had one hundred and fifty four such cases.
So this is this is kind of the the arc
of things. Really, Trump's Trump's election did respire, did did
spur a lot of this growing like oh, these political
beliefs are acceptable now, right, Like this is something that
is like we are we are, we are allowed to

(33:54):
do this, and that that did echo in Canada and
across a lot of the a lot of a lot
of other countries. What what one of one of the
victims of the of the Quebec uh massacre his his
father said that he come to Canada from Algeria in
the to escape terrorism. UM and he said that like
Quebec did not create the monster the shooter, but the

(34:15):
Islamophobia that is inherent inside Quebec gave him like the motive.
So this is really does relate to connate to like
the political situation of Canada. And it's very it's it's
it's not a coincidence that the majority of these types
of attacks are inside either Quebec, Toronto or um. You know,
if you're if you're a white, if you're if you're

(34:35):
in Alberta. It's sadly it's more tied to like other
other like conservative values, but like a lot of it
is around Quebec for a lot of these like shootings
and all these acts of terrorism. Um there was like
the there was the in cell guy who ran over
tons of people in Toronto with his car. Um same
same kind of thing of like of getting more more
used to these kind of having these far right ideas

(34:57):
be more allowed, um and then think them as more
of like a normalized thing. So that so the Quebec
mosque shooting, uh kind of well couple a lot of
people in Canada's being like, oh, we're not immune to this.
This is like an actual thing that we have to
deal with. Two. Um. And the next few months after

(35:19):
Tradeo's January announcement, border crossings did see an increase in
Canada formally accepted more immigrants and refugees and and not.
And there was like, uh, the term in Canada is
like an irregular spike of border crossings. Um. The fact
the way Canadian media reported this, I think it's very irresponsible,
the way they tried to like frame this as like

(35:41):
after this announcement, We're getting so many irregular crossings that
only fueled this type of like this type of anti
immigrant sentiment. Um. It was. It was not really great.
A lot of the old articles I pulled up for
this for like, had really had really disgusting framing, especially
you know, viewing it now. So in March, the Canadian
Parliament passed a motion that condemns Islamophobia and request that

(36:04):
the government recognized the need to quell the public of
climate of fear and hate, specifically around Muslims and immigrants. Um.
The motion was non binding, so it doesn't it doesn't
mean anything. It's just the government saying something nice. Um.
But it's still it's it's still sparked tons of outrage. Um.
You know. It called on the government to condemn Islamophobia

(36:26):
and all forms of systemic racism and discrimination. Uh. The
the margin was passed by like, it was passed by
a margin of like two hundred two h two over
ninety so people a lot of a lot of the
Conservatives in Parliament didn't didn't like this, but it it's
it's it garnered so much online backlash. There were there

(36:46):
were petitions and nationwide protests condemning this bill as an
attack on free speech. Um and Uh. The person who
introduced the bill um uh in an MP named um
Akra Khalid see death threats um on through like their
email and like they had like their private private information leaked.
And it turned in this very very big kind of

(37:10):
one of the first things where it had like these
like national protests in Canada that you know, similar to
how we had like the free speech thing around to
two US and seventeen. This was like the Canadian version
of that and how this kind of started. Um And
in December, Urdeau signed into the United Nations Global Migration Pact.
There's another non binding incentive designed to provide understanding among
nations about how to deal with the global immigration crisis. Again,

(37:31):
all these things are just people talking um. But it
made people very very mad because if you're talking about it,
that means it actually is real and it's actually gonna
affect you, or it's just ignoring that these problems exist.
So really, after Trump's election, after the Quebec, after after
the Quebec mosque shooting, then we have all these bills.
This kind of ignited a in person rallying possibility and

(37:54):
in person protests that Canada hadn't really seen before for
this type of like anti immigration sentiments. UM. And we'll
we'll talk more about these protests after after we have
a little little bit of an ad break. You know,
who doesn't get protested except for that one time when
they illegally overthrew the government of Ecuador. Uh have to

(38:16):
be more the that's right, Garrison, our sponsors only one
time did they inside cause mass protests as a result
of overthrowing a sovereign government. That's pretty good, Garrison, pretty good.
Are you trying to do like a Banana republic thing?

(38:37):
What are you? What are you doing? I'm just saying
most podcasts three to four governments overthrown by their sponsors.
All right, it could happen here just the one baby, Hello,

(38:57):
welcome to Why Canada isn't a liberal utopia? Uh and
actually has a lot of the same sytemic problems that
every other Western country does. And it's not immune to
fascist infiltration and option so as so I know, we
we've you've talked a lot about Quebec and stuff, which
is uh great because yeah, it is a problem. But

(39:19):
this exists in the Western provinces as well. Saskatchewan, Alberta,
BC have a lot of these growing kind of things.
But they're not French Canadians doing this. They're more like
you know what we in America would you know recognize
as like rural conservatives. Um. So, around all of this,
you know, increased discussion around immigration in t seventeen um
around the same time people in Western Canada had we're

(39:40):
facing a bit of an economic recession. They had you know,
significant job loss around this time UM, and projects that
traditionally brought work to the area, like pipelines were you know,
there was discussion of them getting stalled and people you know,
moving more towards renewable energy. This kind of increased a
lot of the political tensions between the Eastern you know,
liberal majority Canada and the western more rule Canada. UM

(40:01):
quoting an article from the CBC, Uh, Trudeau just keeps
giving away all of our money to immigrants, said Samantha too. Boy,
that is a that is a French name. I'm not
even attempted that one. Samantha Frenchie anyway, This mother of five,
she attained a January fifth rally with a webster, her husband,

(40:21):
and two of their children. It was her first protest
for any cause we're stuck paying for all this money
that he wants to give away to everybody but Canadians.
My kids are growing up, and my grandkids and all
of their kids are going to be poor and stuck
in a hole that they're never going to get out of.
This is this is you know, very common type of
thing like oh, we're getting taxed and taking all of
our money and giving giving away to immigrants. This happened

(40:43):
after this, after the Syrian refugee crisis, when Canada's sort
of accepting a lot of Syrian immigrants. That's that's around
the time that I left Canada. Um. But I totally
remember people, you know, having very similar sentiments of like,
why are we you know, paying for all of these refugees, know,
and of that that that's that's the thing that happens
in the States too. Yeah. Um. So the economic tensions

(41:06):
developing in Western Canada, combined with the increase in anti
immigration sentiments among conservatives, were in part spurred by the
Trump presidency, led to the Canadian Yellow Vest movement. UM.
This is totally separate from the French protest movement. UM.
The Canadian version just stole like the working class branding,
just used it for their proto fascist crusade. Um. So

(41:28):
the Canadian yellow Vests were a a group of connected
protest movements over the course of nineteen that had a
lot of like in personalities but also a lot of
online mobilization. It's kind of since tide out, but it
was a major force in pushing right wing extremism in
Canada and having it be accessible to like regular people.

(41:51):
Right it's it's not it's not like the Proud Boys
at all, where it's like you know, specific you know,
bad people doing this thing. It was like appealing to like,
you know, the oil workers, appealing to like the moms.
It was like it was it was it was primarily
used Facebook as a means of passing off this type
of information and making it seem you know, acceptable. Um

(42:12):
the Canadian Loovest's quoting an article from Vice UM Canadian Yelovests,
which had over a hundred thousand members on their Facebook
as of May, carries the greatest potential for radicalization leading
to violence in Canada right now, according to the executive
director of the Canadian Anti Hate Network UH. The group
description says it says it was created to protest the
carbon tax and build that pipeline and stand against the

(42:35):
treason of our country's politicians who have the audacity to
sell our country's sovereignty over to the globalist u N
and their tyrannical policies. But concerns over Canadian soil sector
appeared to be a very little factor in the discussion
that goes on inside these groups. Instead, members are obsessing
over with the defending you know Western civilization from Islam
Bashing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and spreading whatever you know,

(42:57):
far right conspiracy theory is trending at the time, and
I cannot overstate the amount that these people hate Trudeau.
But it's it's not for like reasons because he wore
black face. Like they find the most bizarre ways to
hate this man. Um A lot of these people think
that Justin Trudeau is the illegitimate son of Fidel Castro.
This is this is kind of look similar. This is

(43:21):
a very a very popular conspiracy theory in Canada. It
is like the way that Trudeau is treated by conservatives
is baffling because like, I hate Justin Trudeau, but I
think I hate him for like reasonable reasons, Like he
made a lot bunch of promises around you know, environment
stuff that he didn't follow through on. He doesn't do
he doesn't do anything he is. He does a lot

(43:42):
of black face. It's like there's a lot of reasons
to hate Justin Trudeau, but not because he's the illegitimate
son of Fidel Castro leading us to like leading trying
to sneak Canada into it the socialist You end, like,
that's not that's not what he's doing, like like the
illegitimate son of Fidel Castro. There's a couple of those
in the United States. One of his daughters is now

(44:03):
like a right wing radio personality and fun that makes
so much sense. He you know, he's Castro. He did
a lot of fucking like who who would care? It's
not your your fault, who your dad is. It's just
like this is it's it's like it's like a weaker,
like funnier version of Birtherism. Yeah, it is. It makes

(44:24):
it is like the Canadian version of that. Like it's
very weird. He's like justin Trudeau is very cringe e.
He lies about all of his promises. Um, he talks
about game. He does a lot of virtue signaling. It
does a lot of black face. There's are all really
good reasons to a lot of black face. Um yeah,
a lot of black face. But the way, the ways

(44:45):
that they come up with trying to make him seem
like a bad dude just baffling. Um, very very bizarre.
So um. In an interview with somebody from the Yellow
Vests exposed Anti Fascist Research Team, which was a very
good Twitter account around it's it's it's inactive now, but
this this was a very good account, a very good
account that did really really solid research into the into
the Ellis movement. UM. In an interview, they were asked

(45:06):
what type of impact they think the elves Is could
have in Canada and this was this was their response.
The image of the threat is no longer the skinhead, blooded, blood,
blood and honor type. We're dealing with average people who
don't understand the impact of the rhetoric. They're calling for
the mass death of an entire religion, or they're celebrating them,
or they're celebrating the violence against that religion, or they're
celebrating violence against government officials. They are just one step

(45:29):
away from outright fascism, but they can't see that, and
they refuse to see that, which I think it's very
is a very good UM summary of like how the
yellow vests were a popular movement specifically on Facebook. UM.
Another part of it was the idea of like Western
separatism UM, Like you know, the people in Western Canada

(45:50):
feel ignored, They feel you know, put upon, They feel
oppressed not just for feelings, not not just for being Westerners,
but they honestly feel oppressed because they're white they feel like, oh,
we're focusing on you know, only gonna give money to
the brown people. That's the kind of thing that they
feel like in the West. Um, they're like, well, you know,
my right to free speech was taken away because of
the because of the non binding bill, and refugees can

(46:13):
just walk across the border and they make more money
than I do. So they they have they have all
these all these ideas that are not actually based in reality,
but they can believe them. Um, and they you know,
find these new sources that are just echo chambers that
reinforce this belief to the point where they become radicalize themselves. Um.
It's very it's a very very common thing, especially around
twenties nineteen. I was tracking a lot of these Facebook

(46:34):
groups around twenty nine as well, just in my spare time, UM,
because it's just interesting to watch them interact. UM. I'm
gonna give like, you know, like a brief recap of
like a typical yell yellow US protest around like Edmonton,
UM based a bit off of a cup of of
of of a few CBC articles, So you know, protesters
would gather around in front of UM like the Legislative building,

(46:59):
holding signs wearing bright yellow vests. Um. And they would
do this like basically every every weekend for you know,
months and months and months on end. Um. Some protesters
why stand at the podium showing conspiracy theories about how
powerful the Jewish families controlling the world are um as
one as one dude did at the Alberta Legislature UM
on like January. Um. Some may come sporting red make

(47:24):
Alberta great again? Hats uh, this was very very popular,
very popular. Um. Others may proud the sidelines, stress like
they belong to a biker gang. Um instead of only
instead of Hell's Angels, patches that you have patries that
say wolves of Odin and Canadian infidels. Uh. I'm gonna
give you one, guests, what type of ideology the Wolves

(47:45):
of Odin have? Yeah? The the communists, Yeah, no, they're not,
say um, but most of the protesters voices are not
away from like are not from the fringes. Most of
them just have jobs, um, you know, you know in
like high rises, or they drive for uber the or
their teachers or pipe fitters or real estate agents. And

(48:06):
although their message is like muddled by all of these
other like you know, much more overtly extremist kind of
talking points. They all have one thing in common that
they feel like they're getting ignored and being left behind
by the liberals in the East. UM. This is echoed
by one of the person they got interviewed at these
rallies was named Lynn Smith, who was a former oil
and gas worker who now works in the school system. UM.

(48:27):
They were at a a yellow vest rally on in
January nineteen. It was like the first first fourth protest
she attended. UM. She said, they're just giving away our country.
We have no rights anymore, they're taking them away. No
more Lord's prayer, but they're putting prayer prayer rooms in
schools for Muslims. Um, marry Christmas. You're you're You're not.
You're not allowed to say it anymore. It's supposed to

(48:47):
be happy holidays. They're changing, they're changing our country, and
we've got to stand up and say something about it,
because because this is our country. I was born here,
my parents are born here. It's wrong. So you know,
I'm sure people in the States they're from earlier with
this type of rhetoric. UM, but just the the increased
nature of in Canada was surprising to a lot of
Canadians and like president of a lot of like liberal Canadians,

(49:09):
because they're like, but you're you're in Canada, Why are
you doing the States thing? What? Why are you doing
the thing that they do in the States. Why are
you doing it here? Um? But you know, the same
reason you know people do in the States is because
they feel ignored by politicians, you know, saying that's that's
why this happens in Saskatchewan and Alberta m NBC way
more than it happens in like Ontario. Right. It's because
you know, the more farther away you are from you know,

(49:30):
the big cities, the less your interests are cared for
by a lot of politicians. So the ones that speak
to you are these like extremists who are trying to
pray on these actual you know, financial insecurities. Um. So
A lot some of the protesters say that they're not
like a post immigration but but most of the focus
of the Edmonton Yellow Best rallies has been has been
about who can come into the country and how they're

(49:51):
allowed to get here. Um. One one guy named Brett Webster,
the father of five, who works like a construction construction
industry says they're overwhelming our resources. We can't properly vet
these people and make sure it's safe for them to
come in and make sure that they're skilled and assimilate
into our country and know our ways and our values.
So most of the extremest stuff in Canada outside of
Quebec does come from does come specifically from Alberta. You know,

(50:14):
the big big cities in Alberta are our Calgary and Edmonton.
This happens also in a lot of the more rural
areas that you know, mostly used to run on like
oil drilling. Um. After losing an election to the more
social democratic NDP party UH, the two provincial Conservative parties
in Alberta had their own little mini Unite the Right
and merged together in to us in seventeen, leading to

(50:37):
their success in the polls in tween. So then the
Conservatives have since then, they've done a whole bunch of
stuff in Alberta, like cutting down their health care to
actually a lot of a lot of the Conservative voters
don't like, but like they voted for because that was
the platform. You just were being scared of brown people,
so you voted for the Conservatives. But now, but now
your healthcare is cut. So that's that's how politics works. Um.

(50:59):
So that that's kind of a brief summary of the
yellow vest movement and how it how it gained a
lot of popularity. Um. They they would do rallies around
like polling centers. They would they would they would like
they would attack people. They would have you know, violent
rallies where a lot of like older older men who
were in the Yellows movement would be you know, pretty
violent towards you know, and anyone in their area during
a protest. UM. But they kind of kind of around COVID,

(51:24):
the yellow Vess kind of sput it out. A lot
of the people in these Facebook groups got you know,
moved into other conspiracy theory groups, um, and the Ells
movement kind of lost its train. Um. So that's where
we're kind of going to end for today, is with
the kind of the Elves kind of fizzling out. And
then the next part we'll talk about what's happening from
like and the election that year took like kind of

(51:46):
the present fascist rumblings um inside different sectors of Canadian politics.
So yeah, that is that's my that's my very very
brief right up of of right wing populism and extremism
in Canada. Uh. Pre yep, it's fun. It's not fun.

(52:07):
It's it's it's it's it's upsetting. Um, and it's you know,
it's a lot of the same problems we have here
of you know, politicians really ignoring people in certain parts
of the country which provide provide very fertile recruiting ground
for a lot of extremists. I think it's going to
all end well, well, that is our that is our
that is our official policy, that everything is going to

(52:29):
turn out great. Yeah, it seems fine. I mean there's like,
there is actual ways of preventing this from happening. Right,
It's not it's it's not a hopeless thing. We can
actually do it if we want to. Just people with
power to do it, don't don't don't like doing it. Yeah,
well and good. That is the message of the pod Sophie.
Cool and good. So yep, that's that's Canadian fascism part one.

(52:54):
Cool um. I would recommend if people want to learn
more about the Canadian uh yellow vests, check out the
yellow Best Exposed Twitter account. Uh. There's also like there's
also articles about them. They were a very a very
good anti fascist research team. Um yeah, I would just
recommend if you want to learn more about this, the
specific movement, all of their work on it has been great.

(53:16):
Um so yeah, shout out, shout out to Yellow Vests Exposed.
That's the pod. Alright, Well go get your Tim Hortons
and tomorrow, yeah, I go get your Tim Horton's and
you're I don't know, maple syrup and go find a
moose fo Zone Media or Happen Here pot on the

(53:38):
twits and the inst against Bye bye everybody, a goodbye
a It could Happen Here is a production of cool
zone Media. For more podcasts from cool zone Media, visit
our website cool zone media dot com, or check us
out on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or

(54:00):
wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find sources for
it could Happen Here, updated monthly at cool zone Media
dot com slash sources. Thanks for listening.