Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has doubled down on his inflammatory language toward not only the Canadian truckers who are part of the "Freedom Convoy" but those who support them.
During a Wednesday exchange in the Canadian Parliament, Trudeau told MP Melissa Lantsman, who is Jewish, that "conservative party members can stand with people who wave swastikas, they can stand with people who wave the Confederate flag." Lantsman had just called Trudeau out for his hypocrisy, using his own words from 2015 that "if Canadians are to trust their government, their government needs to trust Canadians."
Lantsman is not only Jewish, but the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors and shared during a Thursday interview with the Toronto Sun that being Jewish "is a big part of my identity" and that she has the largest number of Jewish-Canadians living in Thornhill, which she represents.
In his remarks, Trudeau also puffed up his own position, noting, "We will choose to stand with Canadians who deserve to be able to get to their jobs, to be able to get their lives back. These illegal protests need to stop, and they will, Mr. Speaker."
Speaker Anthony Rota of the Canadian House of Commons then had to remind those members, which he stressed included Trudeau, "to use words that are not inflammatory in the House."
When Lantsman asked for an apology from the prime minister for declaring she stood with people carrying swastikas, Trudeau had already left the building.
It's worth highlighting that a pinned tweet from MP Lantsman's account raises concerns with swastika-carrying truckers and calls them out. Her tweet expresses support for "the tens of thousands of peaceful protesters for speaking out."
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B'nai Brith Canada also addressed the exchange in a piece by Joe Warmington for the Toronto Sun, which calls Trudeau's comments a "new low for PM." Other MPs and even Trudeau's half-brother also condemned the prime minister:
“The only time I’ve ever been made to feel singled out and less in our Parliament was by the prime minister of Canada,” said Thornhill MP Melissa Lantsman. “His words are dangerous and disgraceful.”
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Suggesting a Jewish MP would stand with a Nazi flag was so repugnant that Speaker Anthony Rota scolded members, and “that incudes the Right Honourable Prime Minister,” for using “inflammatory words in the House.”
Calling it “terrible,” Trudeau’s half-brother Kyle Kemper said “he’s acting like a bully.”
“A new low, even for Trudeau,” tweeted Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre. “He falsely accused a Jewish MP and descendant of Holocaust survivors of standing with people who wave swastikas. She did not.”
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“B’nai Brith Canada unequivocally condemns any display of swastikas. We also believe it is not acceptable to respond to a Jewish MP’s question in the House of Commons with a comment that can be perceived by Canadians as suggesting her support,” said Michael Mostyn, CEO of B’nai Brith. “This misperception should not be permitted to stand. We would hope the prime minister promptly addresses this matter.”
Trudeau and the Canadian government have come under particularly heavy criticism lately for their treatment of the Canadian truckers protesting COVID mandates and lockdowns. On Monday, Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act to deal with the truckers, with The Guardian noting he was the first prime minister to do so.
On Thursday, the House of Commons debated the confirmation of the Emergencies Act, which Trudeau and Liberal MPs continued to defend.
There are also threats to the bank accounts of truckers and even to those who donate to them. Their animals can be taken from them too.
Those who donated to the truckers were doxxed and bullied, a move that prompted even Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) to call it out, as Matt highlighted.
There have been calls for Trudeau to end the mandates so as to end the protests. Lantsman made such a suggestion on her Wednesday night appearance on Fox News's "The Ingraham Angle."
Lantsman emphasized that these were Trudeau's "true colors."
"This is not a surprise to me," Lantsman said when asked by host Laura Ingraham what was going through her mind when Trudeau made the reference to swastikas. "This is his true colors. I sit there and watch him divide and wedge and stigmatize Canadians every single day, and today the rest of Canada saw a G7 prime minister go after a Jewish member of parliament and then walk away and not apologize."
The MP also emphasized that "words matter" and detailed the negative attention she and her staff have received. "When you accuse somebody of standing with a swastika, you get an influx of people calling you a Nazi, and that's not okay. And he is driving that," Lantsman said about Trudeau. "He has been driving division in this country throughout this, throughout the, since the protests started, since before the protests started, for his political gain." She went on to say, "I think his leadership is in trouble, the country is in trouble, and he's lost control of the situation."
On division in Canada, Lantsman not only said it's "growing" but is "growing because of the prime minister's rhetoric on this," speaking of divisions being "wedged" by Trudeau.
The segment closed with Lantsman emphasizing her call to end the mandates.
"We have one of the highest vaccination rates, and we are also the country with the highest, most draconian restrictions. So, if [Trudeau] wants to end this today, he could have done that 19 days ago before putting forward a national emergency that is not justified," she offered. "He could have gone out and talked to people rather than calling them racist and misogynist, and we could have put an end to this. He can drop the mandates, and he can drop the restrictions today, and I think we will have a much more cohesive country."
As of Thursday afternoon, Lantsman has yet to receive an apology from Trudeau, as she indicated in her interview with the Toronto Sun.
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