On Saturday, Twitter users took to the trending #IStandWithTrudeau hashtag to vent about the Liberal prime minister’s hypocrisy when it comes to racism and other issues.
The hashtag started trending on the social media website shortly after Trudeau accused Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet of inciting hatred and intolerance after Blanchet criticized a Liberal cabinet minister’s connections to Islamic groups.
Last week, Blanchet took aim at the minister saying that he had questions regarding his prior role heading the Canadian Arab Federation.
“The Bloc leader refuses to accuse anyone, but questions are raised about the proximity of the new transport minister, Omar Alghabra, to the political Islamic movement that he was a leader of for many years,” said a Bloc Québécois press release.
While many of the tweets employing the hashtag were supportive of the prime minister, a significant portion of them attacked Trudeau for his own record on race.
Among those who joined in on the Trudeau pile-on was NDP MP Matthew Green, who criticized Liberals for rallying around the prime minister instead of the implicated MP Omar Alghabra.
Another popular tweet posted by the user RodneyTori, accused the prime minister of past racist and Islamophobic actions.
Meanwhile, several accounts pointed out Trudeau’s past penchant for donning blackface.
Other users took the prime minister to task for his lack of action on indigenous rights and climate change.
This is not the first time that Trudeau’s actions seemed to backfire on social media.
In June 2020, a True North exclusive report found that out of 3,000 replies to a video of Trudeau kneeling at an Ottawa Black Lives Matter rally, 69% of comments were negative reactions.
