Canada’s Conservatives are flirting with danger

One vote. That’s all that separated the Liberal and Bloc Quebecois candidates in the riding of Terrebonne after a judicial recount that moved the Liberals one seat closer to a majority government. Unfortunately, it’s also apparently all that separated some Conservative Party of Canada candidates from flirting with election conspiracy theories — the very sort that now defines the MAGA brand of conservatism they spent the election disavowing. 

Michelle Ferreri, the former CPC MP for Peterborough (who, it should be said, lost by almost 10,000 votes), fed this dangerous beast with a recent social media post. “One vote,” it said, followed by three rolling eyes emojis. Ron Chhinzer, the defeated CPC candidate in Oakville-East, also hinted at his own skepticism of the result. “One vote, eh?” 

There was far less nudging and winking coming from the online influencers, social media warriors and digital outrage farmers that have long formed a key part of Pierre Poilievre’s political base. They have far fewer qualms about embracing the idea that the election was being rigged, whether by Elections Canada or the Liberal government, and that Canada’s election process couldn’t be trusted. After trying to undermine the legitimacy of Poilievre’s defeat in Carleton with a series of discredited and debunked theories, they’ve apparently moved on to questioning the entire democratic process. 

If that sounds like an echo of the MAGA universe’s attitude towards elections their party doesn’t win, well, it should. Former MP and Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day suggested that the growing use of mail-in ballots poses a risk of — you guessed it — election fraud. That’s both a clear callback to the MAGA universe’s favourite conspiracy theory about the 2020 election and a warning that the virus of know-nothing Trumpism is actively spreading on our side of the border. 

In fairness, there are some high-profile Conservatives who are willing to set the record straight here. Nick Kouvalis, the founder of Campaign Research and longtime Doug Ford insider, patiently explained how the process of judicial recounts work on his own social media account. “All parties have the time and the resources — especially the CPC — to send their best lawyers to the judicial recount and have full participation throughout that process,” he wrote. “Maybe the Conservative Party can speak to their supporters in an official capacity and explain what happened in the court-ordered review?”

Dimitris Soudas, the former executive director of the Conservative Party of Canada and director of communications to Stephen Harper, also took a swipe at the people trying to peddle conspiracy theories about the result. “Stolen election in Terrebonne? Please — that recount was watched more closely than a toddler holding scissors. Ben Hur, his chariot crew, and half of Rome were practically leaning over every ballot.”

The problem is that the Conservatives stepping up to knock down these sorts of conspiracy theories aren’t the elected ones — much less the highest-profile ones. De-facto leader Pierre Poilievre hasn’t said a word about it. Neither has interim leader Andrew Scheer, who will lead the CPC caucus until Poilievre inevitably wins his by-election in the safest Conservative riding in Canada. The more credible media sources that feed the Conservative political community in Canada, whether it’s Postmedia or The Hub, have been equally quiet here. 

Maybe it’s because Conservative leaders are afraid of the people they’ve chosen to serve and represent — after all, they’ve seen leader after leader turfed by the fringes. Maybe it’s because they don’t care about the risks to democracy posed by conspiracy theories about election fraud and vote rigging. Either way, it’s a form of political negligence that could have serious consequences — not just for Canada but the Conservative movement that wants to lead it one day. 

They’ve seen what the MAGA movement has done to their more sensible Republican peers to the south, from the openly defiant (Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger) to the quietly submissive (Mitch McConnell, Bill Cassidy). Letting that brand of politics into their party will not end well for them, least of all the ones who believe in things like facts and decency. Like so many Republicans, Canada’s Conservatives might try to convince themselves that embracing Trump’s toxic populism is a means to their broader political end. If they’re not careful here, they might also find out that it has its own ends in mind.