This article is part of the Reality Check series by Canada's National Observer. Have a question for us? Reach out at [email protected].
Claim: Canadian Conservatives help elect Trump in the US
Verdict: Misleading
This question comes to us from reader Sheila, who sent in this screenshot from a Facebook account called “Meanwhile in Canada.”
The post claims that the Conservative Party is a member of the International Democracy Union, and they worked with the group to elect US president Donald Trump last year. The post goes on to imply that a Conservative government in Canada would “capitulate to Trump’s every demand” including demolishing our healthcare system.
Let’s break this down.
The International Democracy Union (IDU) is a conservative group that prizes individual liberties, low taxation and a free market. The group’s chairman is Conservative former Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The Conservative Party of Canada is also listed as a “full member” of the IDU, with Poilievre listed as the chairman, and Randy Hoback, an MP from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, listed as the International Secretary. Poilievre even made an announcement at the 40th anniversary of the IDU, celebrating the organization’s work.
The group’s role in the US election is a bit fuzzy. Mike Roman, former treasurer of the IDU, was indicted in Georgia for conspiring to steal the 2020 US election, but the IDU itself is more informal in its organizing. It exists to help members connect and talk about fundraising, campaigning, polling, “assist each other to win the political argument,” and “win elections.”
Would a Conservative government capitulate to the US and Donald Trump? Would we cut our healthcare system? Poilievre has already committed to keeping some social programs afloat, and he’s publicly come out in favour of other hot-button issues, like abortion rights. It’s impossible to say how any government might deal with Trump’s future whims, but these claims, compared to the party’s stated platform, appear overblown.
Comments
Harper's IDU should be classified as a propaganda organization. The IDU task is focused on electing conservatives around the globe, using disinformation and denial tactics playbook.
They call themselves "conservatives" but they're about as "conservative" as Trump is.
They are in fact an organization of far-right parties.
WOW - talk about whitewashing the IDU & Stephen Harper (who also is in cahoots with former Mossad spooks in no less than two separate companies dealing with spyware for listening in on cell phones and cracking encrypted communications and has been seen secretly meeting with the Trump administration). Did we ever find out who that "former Parliamentarian" was in that NSICOP scandal accused of being an outright traitor?