Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberals are accusing Pierre Poilievre of “using his videos to appeal to far-right misogynistic online movements,” following a report that Poilievre’s YouTube channel was using a hidden label to promote his videos. videos among anti-women audiences.
“You will have to answer for the choice that the Conservative leader made to reach out to extremist groups online, to attract misogynistic and anti-women groups for his own political gain. I mean, women across this country want to know why he allowed this to happen.” happen and I want to see him take responsibility,” Trudeau said in the House of Commons on Thursday, referencing Global News reporting.
The hashtag used to address these online audiences, “#mgtow,” an acronym for “men who go their own way,” is reportedly a reference to an anti-feminist group of men seeking to separate themselves from women. It has been associated with the so-called “incel” or involuntary celibacy movement.
Reddit has banned the “r/MGTOW” community for violating their rule against hate speech.
Previous use of this tag on Poilievre’s YouTube page has not been independently verified by CTV News. According to Global News, after the use of the tag was raised with Poilievre’s office, it was removed from videos uploaded in recent years.
Trudeau repeatedly challenged Poilievre to raise the issue during question period, where the ruling party is supposed to be the one facing the questions.
“These are movements against women and they have devastating consequences in real life. Mr President, I ask the Conservative leader to come to this House, take responsibility and apologize,” Trudeau said.
In response, Poilievre confirmed that he “corrected the problem as soon as I found out about it.”
Poilievre said he condemns “all forms of misogyny” and “took responsibility”, before attacking Trudeau over his past blackface scandal and the Jody Wilson-Raybould and SNC-Lavalin controversy, with the support of the conservative group.
‘FEEDING INCEL’S ECHO CHAMBER’
Several MPs and ministers echoed Trudeau’s condemnation on Thursday, asking Poilievre to explain how the label was allowed to be used and who was responsible.
“It is very alarming to see a report where a political party, the Conservative Party of Canada, apparently used some kind of hashtag or coding that was not visible, to feed incel echo chambers where you have openly violent rhetoric towards women. It is dangerous, it is wrong and it will be up to them to answer for it,” said the Minister of Public Security, Marco Mendicino.
Justice Minister David Lametti called it “more than completely unacceptable” and “a real scandal.” He said that everyone who supported Poilievre during the leadership race, or who supports the party now, should think about it.
“Linking your posts to a group that actively incites hate… I am outraged. I think every woman in Canada, every person in Canada, should be outraged by this,” Lametti said.
Liberal MPs Jennifer O’Connell and Soraya Martínez Ferrada have called on Poilievre to denounce her team’s actions and take some responsibility, but they are also calling on Conservative MPs to stand up and speak out.
“Mr. Poilievre has been deliberately persecuting and courting violent incel movements against women for his own political and personal gain…He is running to be, he claims, Prime Minister…And we ask him to act now,” O ‘Connell said.
Reporters on Parliament Hill asked Conservative MP Raquel Dancho who she thought should take responsibility for the label.
She said: “I am so proud of my leader for coming out and taking responsibility and immediately rectifying the situation. I think that shows real leadership and it’s about time we had a leader in the House of Commons who does that,” while accusing Trudeau of failing to “take responsibility again and again for racist, sexist and misogynistic actions.” ”.
Alain Rayes, an independent MP who left the Conservative Party just days after Poilievre’s victory, called the situation “unacceptable”. Rayes said that while he may believe Poilievre did not use the tag himself, he “must fire the person who did so immediately.” The he said it was “the least expected of a leader.”
While some MPs are calling for consequences, Poilievre has given no indication that he plans to take further action to address the matter.