Michael Cooper, the Conservative MP who was removed from the House of Commons Justice Committee by Andrew Scheer, is threatening to sue The Hill Times for a column which he says defamed him.
“This mischaracterization of Mr. Cooper’s actions is blatantly untrue,” his legal team wrote.
The column, written by activist Farheed Khan, titled “Scheer’s speech on diversity doesn’t match his actions,” takes aim at Cooper over a May meeting in which he quoted the Christchurch mosque shooter’s manifesto while correcting a claim made by committee witness Faisal Khan Suri. Cooper claims that Khan’s arguments are factually untrue.
The allegations have not been tested in court.
Much of the criticism directed to Cooper is based on the notion that he brought a copy of the killer’s manifesto into the committee, which Cooper says is patently false.
“Mr. Cooper did no such thing. To the contrary, Mr. Cooper was quoting from a piece written on www.realclearpolitics.com, an American political website, ” his lawyers said. “This mischaracterization of Mr Cooper’s actions is blatantly untrue [and] has brought him into public odium and contempt.”
Portions of Cooper’s remarks to Khan Suri have been purged from the official audio and transcript records of the committee proceedings following a Liberal motion at a subsequent meeting.
Khan Suri, who tried to make a connection between conservatism and violent extremism. Cooper read into the record that Brenton Tarrant, the Christchurch terrorist, rejected conservatism and praised communist China.
Cooper also spent as much time in his testimony speaking about another leftist mass-shooter, from the United States.
