From unsubstantiated claims of Russian interference to fear-mongering over pro-life advertisements – Canadian leftist media and politicians had a meltdown down over Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s podcast interview with Dr. Jordan Peterson.
Peterson, a renowned author and psychologist, sat down with Poilievre to discuss his vision for Canada in a nearly two-hour interview on his podcast. On X alone, the video has garnered 30 million views.
Influential Canadian leftists responded to Poilievre’s appearance on the highly watched show with outrage.
After watching the discussion, the Liberal Party of Canada posted on X, baselessly accusing Poilievre of being anti-choice when it came to abortion.
“Pierre Poilievre just went on a podcast sponsored by an anti-abortion group,” the post said. “New year, same anti-choice Conservatives.”
Much to the chagrin of pro-life Conservatives, Poilievre has repeatedly denounced the idea that he would restrict access to abortion in Canada.
During his bid for leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada, Poilievre ran on being a “pro-choice” leader. Despite his pro-choice stance, he was elected as party leader with 68.15% support from CPC members.
Canada is one of a handful of jurisdictions alongside U.S. states like Vermont, New Mexico and Oregon which have no legal gestational limits on abortion.
Liberal MP Taleeb Noormohamed echoed the misleading claims that Poilievre would reverse Canada’s stance on abortion by sharing a post which focuses on the sponsor of the episode.
The Daily Wire, the platform that hosts Peterson’s podcast, has several sponsors for its many shows on the platform, a way for the media company to fund its operations.
The sponsor, PreBorn!, is an evangelical Christian organization that hosts pro-life pregnancy clinics. Critics of the group take issue with the group’s traditional religious values.
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh also called out the sponsor which called on the audience to “help save 11,000 babies from abortion.”
The Conservative party did not introduce or pass any legislation to restrict abortion access nationwide and has vowed to not support any legislation to regulate abortion despite having some caucus members with pro-life views.
Others repeated false accusations made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau under oath, claiming Peterson was bought and paid for by the Russian state.
Former Toronto radio personality Dean Blundell took to X, calling Peterson a “Russian asset” who “indeed gets paid by Russia,’ his only citation for this was Trudeau’s claim.
Trudeau’s accusation was levied against Peterson and US media personality Tucker Carlson without providing evidence to substantiate the claim while testifying at a foreign interference inquiry in October.
Peterson denied the allegations and said he would have sued Trudeau for the unfounded accusations if the prime minister hadn’t been shielded by parliamentary privilege. On Peterson’s daughter, Mikhaila Peterson’s podcast, she dared the prime minister to repeat the claims outside of a parliamentary setting.
Iqra Khalid, a Liberal MP for Mississauga, accused Russia of funding the interview while taking shots at Poilievre for refusing to get security clearance. The security clearance would allow him to view unredacted files from an NSICOP report containing the names of parliamentarians allegedly involved in deliberate foreign interference.
According to Poilievre, he refused to get clearance so as not to be sworn to secrecy by a Trudeau government law, which would prevent him from disclosing anything found in the report. Despite this, Poilievre said he’s been briefed by intelligence agencies on foreign interference concerns outside the NSICOP report.
Blundell also claimed both Peterson and Poilievre have “substance issues” and that because of a pro-life groups sponsorship of the Daily Wire, he is “coming for your reproductive rights, sexuality and probably your vaginas too.”
A TikToker and former Global News journalist, Rachel Gilmore, said the long-form interview should send “alarm bells” to Canadians.
In response to the interview, Globe and Mail columnist Andrew Coyne said, “God help us,” claimed Poilievre was lying when he said that US President Donald Trump won with a “massive and powerful mandate.”
Toronto Star columnist Bruce Arther said that Poilievre sitting down with Peterson for a friendly interview “should be disqualifying,” and being endorsed by tech CEO Elon Musk is “something stronger than that.”
During the COVID lockdowns, Arthur said that “anti-vaxxers” were cancerous and “belong in prison or re-education camps” while advocating for vaccine passports.
