Cory Morgan: Giving Pro-Hamas Protesters a Pass While Condemning Poilievre for Attending Tax Protest a Gross Double Standard

A pro-Palestine protester demonstrating by a synagogue is confronted by a police officer after breaching a line to walk towards pro-Israel protesters in Thornhill, Ont., on March 7, 2024. The Canadian Press/Frank Gunn

Commentary

The latest faux scandal du jour that has media pundits and Liberal members breathlessly raising alarm bells has to do with Pierre Poilievre’s recent visit to an encampment of people protesting against the federal carbon tax on the border between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

Protests sprung up around the country on April 1 as the tax increased, and many encampments of protesters in RVs have remained in place since. The encampments may be unpleasing to the eye and surely contain some folks with rather strong views, but they have remained peaceful and are hardly the beginning of a national revolution.

While Poilievre toured the camp, a picture was taken showing him walking past an RV door covered in graffiti-like images and slogans. On that door, there was a small, hand-drawn image of what appears to be a warning flag for scuba divers, only in black. That image is the substance of the “scandal.”

You can be forgiven for not understanding why this is scandalous. Most people wouldn’t. I didn’t know what the symbol allegedly represented until the CBC hysterically reported that it was the logo for a nefarious group named Diagolon.

Don’t know what or who Diagolon is?

That’s OK. Most people don’t.

Testimonies at the commission probing the government’s use of the Emergencies Act in 2022 said that it started as an online joke. Its founder, Jeremy MacKenzie, has faced arrest for assault and firearms-related offences. While some people try to claim this group presents a risk to national security, it doesn’t seem to have done anything aside from trolling the internet and putting its symbols out here and there. There has been no indication of an actual organization or efforts carried out by the group on the ground. It is an internet bogeyman that nobody with any sense takes seriously.

That’s not to say all those subscribing to it aren’t nasty. One of the most alarming issues related to them was when their founder mused on a podcast about raping Pierre Poilievre’s wife. Rape threats can’t be taken lightly and MacKenzie and the other person joining him on the podcast were roundly condemned, including by Poilievre, who called them “dirtbags” and “losers” as the matter was handed to the RCMP to investigate.

Now, according to writers with the Toronto Star and the CBC, we are expected to believe that Poilievre supports this group.

Citizens are getting tired of the media’s “gotcha” games. If anything, such a clearly unfair attack on Poilievre is garnering him sympathy.

During the Freedom Convoy protest, images of a Nazi flag surfaced and were used to smear the thousands in attendance, though the flag was never actually seen among the participants. Guilt by association was gleefully applied to the participants despite there being no evidence of it aside from the single flag.

The situation changes dramatically when it comes to the increasingly aggressive protests against Israel, however. While Jews have been targeted and intimidated, while bullets have hit Jewish schools, and while people have been openly celebrating the terrorist attack on Oct. 7, the powers that be are reticent, to say the least, when it comes to condemning the protests.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was asked to condemn the recent pro-Hamas celebrations of the Oct. 7 massacre in Ottawa and she initially refused to do so, saying she didn’t know about it. She later did condemn the protesters but it was well after the fact and appeared to be under duress.

In Alberta, a man was photographed giving a Nazi salute while holding a picture of Iranian leader Ali Khamenei. Former Deputy Premier and current Alberta NDP leadership candidate Sarah Hoffman was taking part in that protest yet legacy media outlets made no mention of her presence and they certainly didn’t try to associate her with the aspiring Nazi in the picture. Rest assured, had a conservative politician been there, it would have made national headlines.

There is a gross double standard when it comes to holding politicians responsible for who they may be seen with. There are truly dangerous and hateful demonstrations on Canadian streets being dismissed while Poilievre being in proximity to a drawing is apparently worthy of national reporting.

Things will only get uglier as the date for the next federal election creeps closer. If anything needs to be condemned by the public, it’s the increasingly biased, divisive, and petty approach legacy media outlets and politicians are taking in Canadian politics.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.