Green Party leader Elizabeth May privately circulated unsubstantiated media allegations of Kremlin involvement in the Freedom Convoy, records show. “Hair raising,” she wrote in a confidential email to cabinet..“Hair raising important reading on role of Russian disinformation in convoy,” MP May (Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.) wrote in a February 21 email. The message referenced a commentary that day in the Vancouver-based website The Tyee that attempted to draw ties between the Kremlin and convoy protesters..“We have to wake up and take on this cancerous growth in our democracy,” May wrote in a separate Twitter post on the Tyee column. Her “hair raising” email was sent to private accounts held by Attorney General David Lametti, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair and two members of the Liberal caucus..The email was disclosed by the Public Order Emergency Commission. There is no record of any response from cabinet..The Tyee commentary by author Andrew Nikiforuk quoted “experts” as suggesting Russia directed the Freedom Convoy. “What’s going here? Nothing good, say cybersecurity and disinformation experts,” wrote Nikiforuk. “They have warned for years that disinformation campaigns directed by foreign actors in Russia, China and Iran could dangerously pollute democracies and polarize debate with low-cost campaigns on the internet.”.No federal agency found any evidence of Russian involvement in the Freedom Convoy. The CBC corrected a similar January 28 broadcast that claimed “there is concern that Russian actors could be continuing to fuel things as this protest grows.”.May in voting for invocation of the Emergencies Act cited another misleading media article published by the UK newspaper The Guardian that claimed neo-Nazis infiltrated the convoy. May in the House of Commons called it “a very chilling article by a Canadian reporter who I must say I have known for years.”.The article was by Justin Ling, a Montréal freelancer. “My goodness, Justin Ling is distinguishing himself in this crisis as someone who actually goes out, does reporting and digs up information,” said May..The Guardian article cited a single nameless “federal government source” in claiming neo-Nazis were involved in the convoy. “‘We knew these people were coming,’ a source just told me,” wrote Ling..RCMP and Ontario Provincial Police analyses in fact concluded the convoy was “not an ‘extremist’ movement,” was “not comprised of ideologically motivated violent extremists” and at no point was involved in “serious violence in Ottawa, the main reason for the Emergencies Act.”.Freelancer Ling in a separate March 19 Toronto Star story similarly quoted a single nameless source in claiming: “Fears that there were weapons inside some of the trucks proved prescient. A police source said loaded shotguns were found.”.The story was false. Ottawa Police have repeatedly acknowledged no firearms were found in convoy vehicles.
