Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says there is a connection between protesters opposed to lockdowns and mandatory masks, far-right extremism..“To brazenly not follow public-health guidelines puts people at risk and that is something that we’ve seen with extreme right-wing ideology, ” he told reporters Monday in Ottawa..Protests against lockdowns took place across the country over the weekend in Calgary, Regina and Mirror, Alberta, where 1,500 people gathered..Protest organizers, including Chris Scott, in Mirror, were put in handcuffs by the RCMP and hauled away. In Calgary, Pastor Artur Pawlowski was arrested in the middle of a busy street and in Regina, People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier received a $2,800 fine..Singh told reporters he sees a link between protesters and the ideologies of the extreme right because both show a disregard for the well-being of others and put people at risk. .“There is a connection, certainly.”.On the weekend, Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi called opponents of lockdowns “thinly-veiled white nationalist supremacists.”.Nenshi made the comment on the Global TV current affairs show, The West Block..“Those people at those anti-mask protests, let’s not kid ourselves. They’re not people who [are protesting because they] need to eat. They are people who are marching in thinly-veiled white nationalist supremacist anti-government protests,” he said..He pointed specifically to people “coughing and hacking and saying they have bronchitis.”.“We’re not that stupid,” he said..In March he took a similar run at protesters in Calgary who brought tiki torches to a gathering..“It has been increasingly clear to me over the last several months that these marches that pretend they are about lifting the lockdown — there is no lockdown by the way, shops are open, schools are open, restaurants are open, people have the ability to go out and do many, many things that they normally would have done — have increasingly become forums for hatred, for white nationalist groups and others to attach themselves to this conversation, such that the original discussion is completely lost..“So when we see people with torches marching through the downtown core, we know what that means. It’s not about heat, it’s not about light, don’t be ridiculous. When we see people advertising these marches using pictures from Charlottesville, we know what that means, we know who that’s meant to intimidate, and I will tell you right now as a person of colour in this city, I will never be intimidated by that.” .Premier Jason Kenney has also blasted protesters..“These people, we don’t want people making death threats, people threatening to lock up Dr. [Deena] Hinshaw, people organizing rallies with Tiki torches based on the neo-Nazi rally in Virginia — those are not our supporters. Those are not Alberta Conservatives, those are not mainstream Albertans,” Kenney said..“Those are voices of extremism and hatred.”.Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.,dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/nobby7694
Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says there is a connection between protesters opposed to lockdowns and mandatory masks, far-right extremism..“To brazenly not follow public-health guidelines puts people at risk and that is something that we’ve seen with extreme right-wing ideology, ” he told reporters Monday in Ottawa..Protests against lockdowns took place across the country over the weekend in Calgary, Regina and Mirror, Alberta, where 1,500 people gathered..Protest organizers, including Chris Scott, in Mirror, were put in handcuffs by the RCMP and hauled away. In Calgary, Pastor Artur Pawlowski was arrested in the middle of a busy street and in Regina, People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier received a $2,800 fine..Singh told reporters he sees a link between protesters and the ideologies of the extreme right because both show a disregard for the well-being of others and put people at risk. .“There is a connection, certainly.”.On the weekend, Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi called opponents of lockdowns “thinly-veiled white nationalist supremacists.”.Nenshi made the comment on the Global TV current affairs show, The West Block..“Those people at those anti-mask protests, let’s not kid ourselves. They’re not people who [are protesting because they] need to eat. They are people who are marching in thinly-veiled white nationalist supremacist anti-government protests,” he said..He pointed specifically to people “coughing and hacking and saying they have bronchitis.”.“We’re not that stupid,” he said..In March he took a similar run at protesters in Calgary who brought tiki torches to a gathering..“It has been increasingly clear to me over the last several months that these marches that pretend they are about lifting the lockdown — there is no lockdown by the way, shops are open, schools are open, restaurants are open, people have the ability to go out and do many, many things that they normally would have done — have increasingly become forums for hatred, for white nationalist groups and others to attach themselves to this conversation, such that the original discussion is completely lost..“So when we see people with torches marching through the downtown core, we know what that means. It’s not about heat, it’s not about light, don’t be ridiculous. When we see people advertising these marches using pictures from Charlottesville, we know what that means, we know who that’s meant to intimidate, and I will tell you right now as a person of colour in this city, I will never be intimidated by that.” .Premier Jason Kenney has also blasted protesters..“These people, we don’t want people making death threats, people threatening to lock up Dr. [Deena] Hinshaw, people organizing rallies with Tiki torches based on the neo-Nazi rally in Virginia — those are not our supporters. Those are not Alberta Conservatives, those are not mainstream Albertans,” Kenney said..“Those are voices of extremism and hatred.”.Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.,dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/nobby7694
