Why did Conservatives Dimitri Soudas, Barbara Kay and Lisa Macleod join Sid Ryan and Rachel Gilmore in defending an NDP icon? Nationalist imperial mythology spans the political spectrum.
In “To break with imperialism, NDP must break with Layton legacy” I recently detailed Jack Layton’s warmongering. The former NDP leader supported two House of Commons resolutions in favour of bombing Libya and promoted military spending. He was also slow to challenge Canada’s occupation of Afghanistan and soft on the coup in Haiti.
According to the social media companies’ metrics, my post of the article had over 20,000 views on Facebook and 170,000 impressions on X. On the latter platform it was largely backlash. Stephen Harper’s former director of communications Dimitri Soudas retweeted it noting “In French we say Fou du village” while racist former Ontario Conservative MPP Lisa Macleod asked, “Honest question, what is wrong with you?”
On the left end of the spectrum, former Ontario Federation of Labour president Sid Ryan posted a statement asking ,“Does Anyone Besides a Few Lunatics From the Far-Left Believe Jack Layton Was a Warmonger?” After a huge debate Ryan removed his Facebook post.
For her part, Rachel Gilmore shared my Layton post with a meme noting, “They don’t want victory, they don’t want power, they want to endlessly ‘critique power.’” When people pushed back, the social democratic commentator opined that I “fall into the space of someone preferring to endlessly critique others, expecting nothing short of perfect alignment with his ideology rather than viewing politics as the space it is: one where idealism and pragmatism are in a constant battle.”
Criticizing a politician for twice voting to destroy another country is “perfect alignment” with my ideology? Has Gilmore said a word over the past fifteen years about Canada’s role in leading the NATO bombing campaign of Libya?
While not even attempting to refute anything I wrote, Gilmore became ever more outlandish in subsequent comments. She declared, “Yves spends far too much of his time, whether intended or accidental, ensuring his followers don’t ever have even an inkling of hope in the ideas of anyone but him.” So detailing Layton and NDP militarism is akin to running a cult?
In fact, my campaign to lead the NDP has been highly participatory with a platform drafted by 45 activists and researchers over three months. Besides some modest additions and edits I contributed little to “Capitalism Can’t Be Fixed – Onward to a Socialist Future”. Yet through articles, videos and talks I’ve helped make it probably the most widely read anti-capitalist document in Canada since its October release.
No thanks to Gilmore, who ignored our outreach asking if she wanted to interview policy co-lead Jasmine Peardon or communications director Mike Palecek about the platform. Instead of covering the platform, the former Global, iPolitics and CTV reporter has repeatedly attacked me for challenging Canada’s role in Africa and not prioritizing Jewish sensitivities amidst a live streamed genocide. After raising “concerns about antisemitism”, Gilmore posted, “He’s downplayed the Rwandan genocide. Some of his positions on Russia/Ukraine and on China’s abuse of the Uyghurs suggest it wouldn’t be unfair to worry about a campist bent to his politics.”
Steeped in the establishment media’s nationalist mythology, Gilmore is not the first liberal imperialist commentator who has lashed out when mythology is challenged. As part of the promotion for my 2009 Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy, I put together a press release titled The Top 10 Things You Don’t Know About Canadian Foreign Policy. Number 1 was “Many commentators, including the world’s leading intellectual, Noam Chomsky, consider Lester Pearson a war criminal.” I sent the list and offered a review copy to a reporter at Embassy, then Canada’s leading foreign policy newsletter. He responded with outrage: “Frankly, I’m not that interested in Chomsky’s opinions, especially when they smear great Canadians like Mike Pearson. I know you’re a radical, but have some pride in Canada!” (My Lester Pearson’s Peacekeeping: The Truth May Hurt further details the former prime minister’s support for the US war against Vietnam, deploying troops to Korea, partitioning Palestine, etc.)
The reaction to criticizing Jack Layton once again highlights the imperialist character of Canadian mythology.
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