A man interrupted a question-and-answer session with Pierre Poilievre on Monday, pressing the Conservative leader to provide specific examples of antisemitic riots in Canada. The man added that he knows of none since 1933.
During a campaign event at the Canadian Association of Retired Persons’ Toronto headquarters, Poilievre promised to “put an end to these raging, antisemitic riots in our streets.” He also reiterated an earlier campaign promise to deport any foreigners in Canada on temporary visas who “terrorize our Jewish community.”
In the follow-up Q&A with audience members
, a man in the third row stood and requested to ask a question and host Marissa Lennox of ZoomerMedia asked him to wait.
A couple of questions later, the man stood up again. After being told the event is following a pre-determined list of people, he asked Poilievre directly if he could pose a question.
“I don’t control that,” the Conservative leader replied, motioning to someone not shown.
“You don’t control? Oh, I see. So, when would I be able to ask the question?” asked the elderly man.
He is told “three more,” and sits down again.
After Poilievre answered another question, the man arose once more and spoke to Poilievre again, asking firmly, “You have no control over who asks questions, right? No ability?”
Anaida Poilievre, seated in the front row next to Moses Znaimer, CARP chairman and president of the board, turned and smiled at the man as her husband said he was “happy to take questions from anyone.”
Lennox, off-camera, approached the man and said, “stop being disruptive, we are giving you the opportunity to ask a question now. Go ahead.”
Once handed a microphone, he asked Poilievre about his antisemitic riot statement, stating that he couldn’t recall any other than the
1933 Christie Riots in Toronto.
“Do you remember the places or the dates or times when these antisemitic riots that you mentioned took place?” he asked.
Poilievre said he was “happy to” and quickly mentioned an incident in downtown Vancouver where a “miniature riot” occurred outside a coffee shop where he was speaking because he’s “a defender of the Jewish people.”
“It happened in downtown Toronto. In Montreal, in late fall, there was an absolutely monstrous mob going around smashing windows, lighting fires and doing Heil Hitler symbols,” he said, citing the
anti-NATO and anti-Israel protests that turned violent in November.
As Poilievre continued, the man interrupted him and asked why none of those incidents had been covered by newspapers. While the Montreal incident was presented mostly as anti-NATO and anti-Israel demonstrations, publications such as the
,
, and
covered it extensively, as did mainstream media outlets like
,
, and
and others.
In an email to National Post, a CPC spokesperson did not provide specific sources for “riots” in Toronto or Vancouver, but did highlight several news articles about recent antisemitic crimes across Canada. Among them were two shootings at Jewish schools in
and
and the firebombing of a Montreal synagogue, the latter two occurring last year.
Earlier this year, Statistics Canada
reported that the majority of hate crimes targeting a religion reported by police in 2023 were directed at the Jewish community (70 per cent). Since 2019, hate crimes directed at Jews have grown by 198 per cent, with 900 recorded in 2023.
After being told to sit down because he was blocking cameras, Anaida turned around abruptly in her seat and spoke to the man directly as her husband responded. It’s not clear what she said.
“I don’t control the newspapers, sir, and I don’t intend to. I don’t want to live in a country where politicians control newspapers. I believe in freedom of speech,” he said to applause.
“My mission is, when I become prime minister, to ensure there are no antisemitic riots for the newspapers to write about.”
After more applause, Lennox took to the stage and ended the event without any further questions.
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