Why should we let Canada become Cuba?
he asked. Why don’t we release him? We are spending all this money to liberate Ukraine from the Russians, why don’t we send the armed forces to the North to liberate Canada from Trudeau? I’m serious.
It wasn’t the first time that Tucker Carlson had described Canada in this way. In fact, the host has repeatedly stated that Canada has become a “dictatorship.” (New window) over the past year, largely due to the Trudeau government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the invocation of the Emergencies Act to end the “Freedom Convoy” protests, which paralyzed especially the federal capital.
An idea exported from Canada
The idea that Canada is a totalitarian state has gained a lot of traction among Canadian opponents of health measures over the course of the pandemic. The rage over these policies was particularly felt throughout the 2021 federal election campaign, during which events involving Justin Trudeau were regularly the scene of anti-sanitary measures demonstrations.
It was the ‘Freedom Convoy’, however, that allowed this perception to spread overseas, to the point where vaccine-skeptic MEP Mislav Kolakusic argued that Canada was a ‘dictatorship of the worst kind’. (New window) during the passage of the Justin Trudeau in front of the European Parliament last year.
Ahmed Al-Rawi, director of the Disinformation Project at Simon Fraser University, observed that this type of discourse increased after the convoy. It’s an idea that is spreading especially in very conservative or far-right groups, so there seems to be an ideological side to it all, he analyzes. On the other hand, Canada is a major exporter of misinformation and disinformation. We have very important players here, and that also contributes to that.
The professor cites the Canadian conservative media as an example Rebel News, which has more than 1.6 million subscribers on its YouTube channel and attracts a large international audience. Its founder, Ezra Levant, compared Justin Trudeau’s behavior to that of a dictator and called the head of state a tyrant numerous times in the past year, both in chronicles (New window) only in publications (New window) on social networks.
Mr Al-Rawi also identifies Canadian clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson as an influential figure on the online right who may have contributed to this perception.
Dr Peterson was a major supporter of the convoy last year, as well as being highly critical of the Prime Minister, whom he called ” authoritarian traitor (New window) “. A true international star, Jordan Peterson has more than 6 million subscribers on YouTube and recently piloted an online show for the conservative American media. The Daily Wire.
A transnationalization of the extreme right
Bàrbara Molas is a researcher at the International Counterterrorism Center. She monitors the online activities of many extremist groups, and reports that the Canadian Prime Minister has become a symbol of totalitarianism worse than nazi germany
in the eyes of the Canadian far right.
According to Ms. Molas, it is therefore hardly surprising that it is also so in the eyes of the international far right. The researcher explains that anti-health measures movements and social networks have favored a certain transnationalisation
of the extreme right and the discourses conveyed there.
COVID-19, ce sont un sentiment anti-État et la propagation des théories du complot qui entrent dans un métarécit, soit un récit commun à tous. Ces théories du complot tentent d'expliquer des choses très complexes et des questions mondiales en termes très simplifiés","text":"Ce qui définit l’extrême droite, surtout après la COVID-19, ce sont un sentiment anti-État et la propagation des théories du complot qui entrent dans un métarécit, soit un récit commun à tous. Ces théories du complot tentent d'expliquer des choses très complexes et des questions mondiales en termes très simplifiés"">What defines the far right, especially post-COVID-19, is anti-state sentiment and the spread of conspiracy theories that fit into a meta-narrative, a narrative common to all. These conspiracy theories try to explain very complex things and world issues in very simplified terms
explains Ms. Molas.
for example, the idea that our democratic institutions are controlled by a secret elite. Suddenly the Netherlands is talking to Britain and talking to Canada about whether or not their problems are due to the same factors”,”text”:”This means that different groups in different countries will identify a common cause and a common enemy – for example, the idea that our democratic institutions are controlled by a secret elite. Suddenly the Netherlands is talking to Britain and talking to Canada about whether or not their problems are due to the same factors””>This means that different groups in different countries will identify a common cause and a common enemy – for example, the idea that our democratic institutions are controlled by a secret elite. Suddenly the Netherlands are talking to Britain and talking to Canada about whether or not their problems are due to the same factors.
analyzes the researcher.
However, if the Canadian extreme right demonizes the Prime Minister, his counterparts will do the same.
The far right elsewhere will support Canadians, believe what they say, and say they have the same problem. Among extremist groups, the idea is that the enemy is the same, but the puppets are different
summarizes Barbara Molas.
The researcher also specifies that the convoy was not in itself a far-right demonstration, but that it joined the movement just as it did with other anti-sanitary measures demonstrations elsewhere in the country. world.
Consternation among our neighbors to the south
Tucker Carlson is not the only one: in the United States, many influential personalities have called Justin Trudeau a dictator for his management of the “Freedom Convoy”.
The most listened to podcaster in the world, Joe Rogan, for example, claimed that Justin Trudeau is a dictator and a communist (New window). The richest man on the planet, Elon Musk, for his part uploaded a photomontage that compared Trudeau to Adolf Hitler (New window).
Americans don’t talk much about Canada, but the country raises some eyebrows when it strays too far from American standards
explains the director of the Canadian Studies Program at Bridgewater University, Andrew Holman. Trudeau became the target of anger and demonization from right-wing and far-right Americans. He has come to symbolize the kind of leader of a democracy gone wrong. And the fear is that it could happen here.
Mr. Holman also adds that the stricter sanitary measures put in place by certain Canadian authorities – the curfew in Quebec, for example – have caused the consternation of Americans of all political stripes.
The role of fake news
The director general of the University of Ottawa’s Information Integrity Laboratory, Serge Blais, also observed that Canada’s image has been damaged by the convoy of truckers and the management of the coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19. According to the professor, some false information that circulated played a certain role in it.
police est intervenue au convoi, une journaliste de Fox News had relayed information that a woman had been trampled by a law enforcement horse and that she died, but it was wrong“,”text”:”When the police intervened at the convoy, a Fox News reporter had relayed a report that a woman had been trampled by a law enforcement horse and that she was dead, but it was wrong””>When the police intervened at the convoy, a reporter from Fox News had relayed a report that a woman had been trampled by a law enforcement horse and that she died, but it was not true (New window)
recalls Mr. Blais.
: the police did indeed arrive with horses, but there was two or three feet of snow on the street and the lady tripped, but she did not die. The false information was picked up in several media outlets, and within hours the whole world believed that the forceful intervention of the police had cost the life of a woman”,”text”:”There is an element of truth in that: the police did indeed arrive with horses, but there was two or three feet of snow on the street and the lady tripped, but she did not die. The false information was picked up in several media, and within hours, the whole world believed that the forceful intervention of the police had cost the life of a woman””>There is an element of truth in this: the police did indeed arrive with horses, but there was two or three feet of snow on the street and the lady tripped, but she did not die. The false information was picked up in several media, and within hours the whole world believed that the heavy-handed police intervention had cost the life of a woman.
relate-t-il.
Mr. Blais also mentions the fake news that has spread over the course of the pandemic, according to which Canada was building internment camps (New window) or concentration camps that would be used to forcibly isolate people infected with COVID-19 entering the country. However, the camps
in question were usually hotels (New window). Other voluntary isolation sites have also been built in Canada so that citizens who so wish can isolate themselves in order to protect vulnerable loved ones.
It was presented as places where people were detained by force, or gulags. That’s the kind of little thing, drop by drop, that can undermine a country’s reputation or image.
he believes.
