Small Differences

There are some differences in the disinformation campaigns launched by the Republicans in the United States and the Conservatives in Canada, with US campaigns tending more frequently to demonize social groups, whereas in Canada the focus is on defamation of leaders of opposing parties. These relatively subtle differences have led some to characterize Poilievre as a ‘polite version of Trump’ – one whom the Koch brothers (who, let us not forget are heavily invested in the Alberta Tar Sands) might have preferred. A more accurate comparison perhaps, is with JD Vance.

Canada has not experienced a flood of disinformation comparable to the impact of bots and troll farms on US media. But we should not be complacent. Mass coordinated attacks can make disinformation appear popular.

[N]etworks consisting of fake profiles amplify the message and create the illusion of high activity and popularity across multiple platforms at once, gaming recommendation and rating algorithms.

https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Weapons-of-Mass-Distraction-Foreign-State-Sponsored-Disinformation-in-the-Digital-Age.pdf

This is anticipated in the next federal election cycle in Canada. In Cyber Threats to Canada’s Democratic Process, a 2023 update reports:

Canada can expect unprecedented activity by foreign actors in our cyber and information space in the next federal election cycle, especially with the use of AI-generated content including deepfake videos and other sophisticated tools of deception.

By the time President Donald Trump reached his 1,055th day in office (December 10,2019), he had misled or lied to the American people 15,413 times. In one stretch prior the 2018 midterm elections, he averaged thirty false or misleading statements per day. Undaunted by news reports of his habitual dissembling, Trump greeted the reports with the blanket retort of “fake news”. Despite Trump’s unprecedented role as “outliar-in chief”, the mainstream press in the USA could not do much more than keep a running tally of his daily mendacity.

Professor W Lance Bennet, University of Washington

[Poilievre’s] lies range from false claims about the carbon tax to claims the Chaplain General of Canada has banned prayer.

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2024/11/12/opinion/no-pierre-poilievre-donald-trump-acts-remembrance-chaplains

In the early years of Trump’s campaigning his more outrageous statements were often dismissed as posturing and politics, as was his flirtation with fringe groups like QAnon, Proud Boys and right-wing Christian nationalists. Trump would often flipflop on early statements depending on how they landed with the general public – although his positions have hardened more recently, with particularly worrying links to Project 2025.  (source: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/10/22/us/politics/project-2025-trump-heritage-foundation.html?searchResultPosition=7)

Poilievre displays an ambivalence similar to some of Trump’s tactics, flip flopping on many issues that suggest power rather than principles are driving his statements.

Poilievre’s attacks on First Nations peoples have included questioning of the value of compensation for survivors of residential schools; implying First Nations chiefs were involved in improper allocation of funding; and that Indigenous peoples were lacking in the values of hard work, independence and self-reliance. He has backtracked on all of these statements in the wake of public criticism, but holds fast that reconciliation with Indigenous peoples should take the form of ‘economic reconciliation.’ He has attacked two spirited people and trans youth. And he has flirted with associations with the far right in Canada and the US whose engagement in disinformation campaigns include anti-vaccine campaigns and questioning the legitimacy of Trudeau’s election to power.

Sources: https://globalnews.ca/news/8967781/how-close-is-too-close-to-the-far-right-why-some-experts-are-worried-about-canadas-mps/

https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/some-first-nations-leaders-turn-their-backs-on-pierre-poilievre/

Perhaps the most damaging disinformation campaigns launched by the Conservative Party focus on the climate crisis – both ‘Axe the Tax‘ (Poilievre’s signature move) and ‘Scrap the Cap‘ (compliments of Danielle Smith, Premier of Alberta) rely on false information to bolster support.

Although a carbon tax was first introduced by a BC conservative government in 2008, subsequent Conservative claims about the carbon tax’s “supposed impact on inflation and the economy were massively (and deliberately) overstated.”  In fact, according to the Parliamentary Budget officer “more people receive more money back through rebates of the carbon price than they pay”.

Alberta Premier Smith’s attack on emissions caps is based on a farfetched claim that lower production will negatively impact Canadians’ standard of living, in an advertising campaign that makes a link between reduced emissions, higher grocery prices and cost of housing – which environmental economist Andrew Leach, University of Alberta, says is “simply not true”.

Premier Ford in Ontario also engages in disinformation – deception that is more subtle but no less dangerous. The titles of Ford’s legislation often convey exactly the opposite what the Bill will do. For instance: Bill 109 the “More Homes for Everyone Act, 2022” and Bill 23 the “More Homes Build Faster Act, 2022”. Bill 185 the “Cutting Red Tape to Build More Homes” is also a cause for concern because it stifles community involvement and severely restricts the public’s right to appeal. What has actually transpired is new home construction in Ontario has declined and Ontario experienced a record low in housing starts in 2024.

Defamation and Distraction

Poilievre has amplified defamation campaigns against opposition leaders, including a tirade against Valérie Plante and Bruno Marchand, the mayors of Quebec’s two largest cities (Montreal and Quebec City), who he repeatedly refers to as incompetent; his repeated references to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (as well as the Liberal and New Democratic parties) as “extremists,” “raving wackos” and “lunatics” who “detest the working class” and have “total disdain for the common people.” His attacks on federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, calling him a “fake a phony and a fraud” after Singh refused to support his non-confidence motion, later as a “sell out” suggesting Singh has supported the Liberals only to ensure his pension increases, also function to distract the public from the fact that his own pension is three times larger. 

Most recently Poilievre is claiming Trudeau is responsible for Trump’s new proposed tariff war apparently because of the ‘personal animus’ between Trump and Trudeau (totally omitting the fact that Trudeau arrived at a workable trade agreement the last time Trump was in power…)

More disturbing is Poilievre’s conflation of democratic socialism with Nazism – which could not be further from the truth – democratic socialism is committed to centering control of the economy in the community; Nazism is an extreme form of concentrated state power underpinned by racism (Learn more). This strategy echoes Trump’s branding of Kamala Harris as fascist/communist/Marxist, a strategy also adopted wholeheartedly by BC Conservative Party leader John Rustad, who recently accused the BC leader of the NDP, David Eby, of being a ‘communist.’

Conservative elected representatives are not averse to defamation: An egregious example is the prominence of BC Conservative Brent Chapman, the BC Conservative MLA elected recently in the riding of Surrey South, whose harmful comments have targeted school children (he claims Sandy Hook never happened), Muslims (accuses of inbreeding), Palestinian children as timebombs, and the critique of residential schools a “massive fraud.” (source: https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/bc-election-conservative-candidate-under-fire-again-this-time-over-residential-schools ).

One of the guardrails of democracy, is partisan gatekeeping in which parties patrol their own members and oust those spouting hate speech or conspiracy. This seems conspicuously absent among Conservatives.

Poilievre does not shy away from using distortions to critique policies. An example is Poilievre’s attacks on the policies crafted during the Liberal-NDP coalition that Singh ended in 2024. Poilievre’s criticism of many policies is based on deception: his arguments are entirely false that the carbon tax is a major cause of the rise in the cost of groceries or takes money from the pockets of the working class, or that Pharmacare prevents for-profit clinics from operating.  

Resorting to fearmongering as a strategy, Poilievre’s disinformation campaign seems aimed at discrediting policies advanced by progressive parties to improve the daily lives of Canadians, especially Pharmacare (which he falsely claims will prevent you from accessing private care) and its dental care component; and Liberal legislation on online news (which he claims is a censorship law)

More outlandish are the disinformation strategies of Danielle Smith, Alberta’s Conservative Premier: The proposal by the UCP government of Alberta to “celebrate CO2” as a life giving force rather than recognizing it as a pollutant, or the emphasis on lightning strikes as the cause of current forest fires (rather than the drought conditions caused by climate breakdown) both function as disinformation because they contain a grain of truth which eclipses the more important story of CO2 as the cause of climate breakdown and amplified forest fires. This position perhaps takes inspiration from the notorious Republican US Representative Marjorie Taylor Green, who argues that climate breakdown is totally normal. Although she also claims an unspecified “they” control the weather – she is not referring to oil and gas emissions but rather “suggesting that the hurricane [Helen’s] path had been intentionally set in motion to target Republican-leaning counties.”

Perhaps the most damaging disinformation campaigns launched by the Conservative Party focus on the climate crisis – Both ‘Axe the Tax’ (Poilievre’s signature move) and ‘Scrap the Cap’ (compliments of Danielle Smith, Alberta) rely on false information to bolster support. Although the carbon tax was first introduced by a BC conservative government in 2008, subsequent Conservative claims about the carbon tax’s “supposed impact on inflation and the economy were massively (and deliberately) overstated.”

In fact, according to the Parliamentary Budget officer “more people receive more money back through rebates of the carbon price than they pay.” Smith’s attack on emissions caps is based on a farfetched claim that lower production will negatively impact Canadians standard of living, in an advertising campaign that makes a link between reduced emissions, higher grocery prices and cost of housing – which environmental economist Andrew Leach, University of Alberta, says is “simply not true.” (source: https://www.nationalobserver.com/2024/10/30/news/guilbeault-danielle-smith-posturing-carbon-tax )

There are some great toolkits available to counter disinformation. We have posted several in the Toolkits section of our website. Two great examples are highlighted below.

Cranky Uncle is an Australian website dedicated to countering disinformation. They use cartoons, humour, and critical thinking to expose the misleading techniques of science denial and to build public resilience against misinformation. We love their idea of turning spotting disinformation into a game. Designed by scientist John Cook from the University of Melbourne, you can download the Cranky Uncle app (free) to your phone or tablet.

Another, produced by Global Digital Citizen, is a quick “cheatsheet” to counter disinformation which can be found here.