How to spot Pierre Poilievre’s most extreme candidates
Special Election 2025 issue [Free]
Good morning – Here is your Saturday newsletter. My thanks to the 137 people who are paid subscribers. Your support really makes a difference! Today’s post is free for all subscribers. Please share widely.
In peace,
Steve
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre tossed out five of his candidates for the election over their controversial views this week. But there are plenty more questionable people running for his party, as documented by writer and researcher Christopher Holcroft.
Here is the tally of candidates dumped by the Conservatives this week:
Ontario’s Windsor-Tecumseh-Lakeshore candidate Mark McKenzie was removed by the Conservatives due to past comments he made in a podcast suggesting former prime minister Justin Trudeau should face the death penalty.
Stefan Marquis was running for the Tories in the Quebec riding of Laurier – Sainte-Marie, until the party reviewed some of his social media posts after a review.
Don Patel was running in Ontario’s Etobicoke North until a Conservative party spokesperson said the party had dropped him after he endorsed a social media post that supported the idea of deporting some people to India where “[Prime Minister Narendra] Modi can take care of these nonsense people.”
Lourence Singh was removed for undisclosed reasons from the running for the British Columbia riding of New Westminster-Burnaby-Maillardville.
Simon Payette, who was running as a Conservative in the Quebec riding of Berthier—Maskinongé, was dropped after he accused Liberal candidate Nathalie Provost, who survived the Ecole Polytechnique massacre, of playing the “victim game.”
Wait, there’s more!
Christopher Holcroft says while the Liberals also have had to expel candidates, the prevalence of Conservative candidates with extremist views is not an accident.
“What is unique is the number of candidates who were seemingly chosen in spite, or because, of their proximity to controversy or extreme views,” he writes in the Tyee this week.
Here is a list of other radical right-wing candidates Conservatives have running under their banner, and have not removed them.
Excerpted from “Candidates with Extreme Views Welcomed on Poilievre’s Team” by Christpher Holcroft, published by The Tyee on March 31, 2025.
B.C. candidate Aaron Gunn is a self-styled documentary filmmaker whose previous candidacy for the leadership of the former BC Liberal Party was unanimously rejected by the party’s executives because he was considered to be “inconsistent” with the party’s “commitment to reconciliation, diversity and acceptance of all British Columbians.”
Among Gunn’s many YouTube videos are ones praising Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter as a “huge win for free speech,” at least two promoting private health care and featuring U.S. dark-money-funded SecondStreet.org, and an interview with Donald Trump-pardoned Conrad Black in which he claims to “debunk” systemic racism.
Ontario candidate Andrew Lawton is a former host at the True North alt-right media outlet, in which he railed against “trans politics,” covered the annual general meeting of a controversial gun lobby organization and claimed Canada’s Indigenous Governor General was a “shill” for the federal government on preventing the spread of hate or the exploitation of children online.
Lawton previously ran for the provincial Conservatives, at which time a number of disturbing statements he had previously made publicly came to light.
Dr. Matt Strauss, also running in Ontario, is the former acting medical officer of health for the region of Haldimand-Norfolk. Strauss was widely criticized during the pandemic for minimizing the risks of the COVID-19 virus, including stating he would rather give his kids COVID than a McDonald’s Happy Meal, casting doubt on whether children should get the COVID vaccine and criticizing mask mandates.
Strauss also wrote an article for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute calling for an end to vaccine mandates. After resigning from his position with Queen’s University, Dr. Strauss sued the university, claiming he was defamed for his views. Elon Musk took credit for funding the lawsuit.
Quebec candidate Matthew Rusniak is a former mixed martial arts fighter and current gym owner who led a campaign against COVID lockdowns in commercial gyms. He eventually defied the emergency law and opened his business, declaring, “I’m just waiting for the police to march in here and slap me with a big fine and lock us up.”
Steve Kent, an appointed candidate in Newfoundland, has previously expressed MAGA leanings. In 2019, while serving as chief administrative officer for the municipality of Mount Pearl, Kent was placed on leave by the town council after allegations of bullying behaviour and workplace harassment. He resigned in 2020 before he could be fired by council.
Jamil Jivani, seeking re-election in Ontario, is perhaps the Conservative candidate of greatest concern. Running just a year after winning a byelection, Jivani is campaigning in a much different context this time. His “best friend” JD Vance now serves as U.S. vice-president in an administration that has stated it wants to annex our country.
As late as January, Poilievre was speaking about Jivani as a likely cabinet minister in his government. This, in spite of, or due to, being fired from his job as a radio talk show host in 2022 for what his employer, Bell Media, deemed “open disdain for the company’s efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion.”
As Jivani settled in as an MP, Vance’s decision to serve as running mate to the twice-impeached, criminally indicted Donald Trump and his repeated false claims about migrants eating pets did nothing to dull the friendship between the two men. Jivani met Vance in Washington, D.C., in December and attended his inauguration in January, which Jivani called a “special moment for me personally.”
Vance even publicly rode to Jivani’s defence in December when a Canadian reporter questioned the MP’s campaign against anti-Christian bigotry. Jivani and Vance have reportedly continued to speak but have avoided “politics.”
Meanwhile, Vance has served as a sort of attack dog envoy to the United States’ former allies, publicly assailing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House, regularly insulting European allies and antagonizing Canada with false accusations, telling us to “spare me the sob story.”
Christopher Holcroft says that responsible people need to expose the extremist views of some candidates. “It is imperative engaged citizens in ridings across the country challenge all their local candidates on their views, including those referenced above,” he said.
Leave a comment to explain your views further.
Last week’s poll
Last week I asked readers, “After a ceasefire, do you support sending Canadian troops to Ukraine to provide security with European allies?” Opinion was divided. Nearly half said “yes” (44%), while a nearly equal number said “no” (39%).
Did you miss last week’s newsletter?
1.62k views
Thank you for everything you do for peace.
Steve
Such exclusions deny the democratic rights of the membership of the party's riding. In the case of the NDP, candidates who have expressed criticism's of Israel's egregious behavior, fully within the context of international law, have been arbitrarily excluded. In doing so, we have a hamstrung democracy which operates on the basis of taboos. Democracy means that viewpoints must be allowed to be publicly expressed, except where they invoke violence or lawlessness.
While I personally find some of the opinions expressed by several candidates unsavory, I think they represent opinions that are prevalent and rather then shutting them down they should have to confront the electorate - supposing they make themselves available in all candidate meetings. Democracy demands a lot of vigilance; The important part is for candidates to actually have to answer questions from voters or journalists- The cocooned campaign style where journalists are not travelling with the core team is worrisome as is the refusal of candidates to go to all candidate meetings.