Pierre Poilievre’s most immediate obstacle to becoming prime minister is the perception he’s a Timbit Trump. Yet the Conservative leader can’t seem to stop mimicking Donald Trump’s authoritarian Zionism.
On Sunday Poilievre was asked about candidate Neil Oberman saying the Conservatives planned to withhold federal funds from universities failing to stamp out opposition to Israel’s genocide. Two weeks ago Oberman told the extremist, Adelson funded, Jewish News Syndicate that universities “will not get a single penny from the federal government until they clean up.”
Instead of tempering his Timbit Trump image, Poilievre doubled down on threatening to defund higher education. As quoted in a front page Montreal Gazette article headlined “Poilievre would withhold funding over antisemitism: Backs university plan put forward by Mount Royal candidate Oberman”, Poilievre told reporters: “We should never give our money to subsidize antisemitism. There will not be a cent from my government to subsidize antisemitism, the extremism we see in the streets, the harassment of Canadian Jews, or the terrorist attacks against synagogues. It’s disgusting.”
Poilievre has previously said his government would deny federal funding to universities that “spread antisemitism or make Jews feel unsafe and uncomfortable on their campuses” or that he would “defund” universities, museums and “all of those with a woke antisemitic agenda.”
But the issue has taken on far greater political import since Trump unleashed a ruthless attack against US universities. Trump has moved aggressively against Columbia, Harvard and other educational institutions in a flagrant assault on academic freedom. The effort to dismantle, or radically reform, higher education is likely to significantly undermine US power over the long term.
Spurred on by Benjamin Netanyahu’s interference in the Canadian election, ten days ago Poilievre made another declaration copying Trump’s repression. The Conservative leader announced that he would follow the Trump administration in deporting critics of Israel. “Anyone who is here on a visitor visa who carries out law-breaking will be deported from this country,” Poilievre told reporters in response to a question about Israel. “We will bring in tougher laws to target vandalism, hate marches that break laws [and] violent attacks based on ethnicity and religion.” He concluded, “we will deport foreigners from Canada for criminal hatemongering.” (Legislation already exists to deport non-Canadians violating the law.)
Beyond domestic repression, Poilievre has made it clear he agrees with Trump’s controversial move to put the US embassy in Jerusalem. During a 2022 meeting with the NGO “Keep Jerusalem” he stated, “I repeat clearly and unambiguously: Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, and when I am elected prime minister of Canada, I will ensure that our embassy is relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.”
Pledging to cut funding to UNRWA and other international bodies assisting Palestinians, Poilievre recently called the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees a “terrorist organization”. The yapping Zionist Chihuahua also told Parliament, “We must stand with them (Israel) now and always, because, after all, we are Canadians.” In another instance Poilievre declared that he would “reject any anti-Israel motions and resolutions at the United Nations” and told a reporter in October, “Israel would be doing humanity a great service if it bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities.”
After Israel had already killed over 40,000 in Gaza, Poilievre told a Toronto synagogue “Jewish people, the eternal Jewish people, continue to triumph. And they will triumph once more.”
Poilievre was part of a decidedly anti-Palestinian Stephen Harper government. He’s long made his Jewish supremacism clear. But Israel’s holocaust in Gaza and the resulting popular uprising has raised the stakes over the issue.
Backlash to Trump in Canada should prompt Poilievre to be cautious about further mimicking the Donald. But he’s being egged on by Oberman, Netanyahu and others.
Canada’s yapping Zionist Chihuahua can’t seem to hold back on being a Timbit Trump.
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