An anonymous anti-Pierre Poilievre campaign has been circulating on social media for the last three months, painting the Conservative leader as an anti-abortionist and pro-firearms enthusiast.
The anonymous group, “Protecting Canada,” on its website describes itself as “a group of concerned and engaged Canadians” with a shared goal of “helping Canadians make informed decisions.”
Their content includes two 30-second videos disparaging Poilievre, and a pair of videos less than eight minutes long attempting to paint the Tory leader as “the Donald Trump of the North."
“That’s Poilievre. But it’s just not Canada,” says the video’s narrator repeatedly.
The Protecting Canada campaign called Poilievre a supporter of “alt-right” ideology and showed clips of Diagalon, an online gaming group the federally funded so-called Canadian Anti-Hate Network has attempted to blacklist as a threat to national security — a claim refuted by the RCMP in the fall of 2023, the infamous #HateGate.
The videos decry “F*** Trudeau” flags (as though the slogan was Poilievre’s idea), and the notion Poilievre “comes off a bit prickish.” They call him “anti-feminist, misogynistic,” and accuse him of covertly being part of a movement of “men going their own way,” and “promoting the separation of men and women.”
Protecting Canada alleges Poilievre “courts online extremists” and wants women to be paid less than men, they further attempt to criticize Poilievre for rejecting Liberal policies on gun confiscation, and socialist programs like pharmacare and dentalcare.
The group also works under the assumption the vast majority of Canadians support abortion, and attempted to make Poilievre look bad for not advocating more for killing babies in the womb. Protecting Canada appears to be of the mind that meeting with church members that reject abortion make Poilievre an enemy.
“Protecting Canada is funded by progressive groups, organizations big and small, and individuals like you from across Canada,” states the website.
The organization does not elaborate on the identity of these “progressive groups” from whence comes its funding.
However, Protecting Canada appears to be linked to an Ottawa-based branding company called Emdash — of which many of its executives have ties to Liberal-NDP initiatives like Truth and Reconciliation and Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD; also known as state-sanctioned euthanasia).
The Toronto Star in October published an article naming Megana Ramaswami, senior strategist at Emdash, as Protecting Canada’s spokesperson.
Ramaswami reportedly confirmed the group’s funders wished to remain anonymous, but they consist of former Liberal and NDP staffers and major unions.
Protecting Canada wants to “fill the vacuum” created by the Conservative’s funding of ads against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberals, and unite progressives to combat the Conservative “media-machine that fuels hypocrisy.”
“Our ambition is to match Conservative infrastructure, dollar for dollar, and spend as much as it takes,” Ramaswami told the outlet at the time.
The Conservatives spent $8.5 million on advertising in 2023, the most recent data available — which is approximately 20 times more than the Liberals’ $380,000, according to the Canadian Press.
Ramaswami, Protecting Canada’s only public face, refused to disclose anything else about the group or its donors, but did say the organization was backed by “progressive individuals and organizations wanting to unite Canadians against Poilievre,” reported the Star.
Yet, after following up with the Ontario government, the outlet identified Protecting Canada’s directors as former NDP staffers Ian Wayne and David Hare, Bryan Leblanc, Ontario Liberal staffer from the Kathleen Wynne administration and Barbara Byers, former Canadian Labour Congress executive.
None of the above responded to the Western Standard’s request for comment, or denied they were behind the campaign.
Ramaswami, meanwhile, vehemently denied to the Star that the group is partisan, despite its deep ties to the Liberal and NDP parties — the Conservative smear campaign even goes as far back as former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole’s era, targeting his policies during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ad man Don Millar, who previously worked with brief federal Liberal hopeful and former BC Premier Christy Clark, as well as on various federal Liberal campaigns confirmed to the outlet he is helping with advertizing.
Wayne, who previously worked with NDP household names like Jack Layton and Tom Mulcair, in 2021 told the Toronto Sun the group was made up of Canadians “with diverse political experience,” yet had a common goal of keeping Conservatives out of office.
Wayne, who was Protecting Canada’s spokesman at the time, emphasized the “progressiveness” of the individuals behind the campaign, which he said is funded by individuals and organizations who believe it’s “crucial” to combat “well-funded, extreme right-wing” advocacy groups.
“This launch is just the beginning,” Wayne said at the time.
“We will continue to grow our campaign and get our messages to more and more everyday Canadians.”
Protecting Canada at the time this article was published has a mere 126 followers on Twitter (“X”), 417 on Facebook and 221 on Instagram.
