Conservative MPs Colin Carrie, left, Leslyn Lewis, second left, and Dean Allison, right, with Christine Anderson. Ms. Anderson dismisses Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s comments that three of his MPs did not know about her politics before meeting her.Handout
Far-right German politician Christine Anderson dismisses federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s suggestion that three of his MPs had no information about her politics before they met her last month.
In an online interview, Ms. Anderson said her record on various issues has been widely publicized, so Mr. Poilievre’s claim, made in defence of his MPs, is not credible.
“I found it kind of peculiar that he would claim they were not aware of my political views,” Ms. Anderson said in an online interview with Canadian author Mark Steyn, posted on Mr. Steyn’s website earlier this week.
Ms. Anderson, who sits in the European Parliament as a member of right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany, said the internet is full of videos about her views.
Conservative MPs knew what they were getting into with Christine Anderson meeting: organizers
Ms. Anderson told Mr. Steyn that she’s never held back expressing herself. “I very clearly state what my political views are, what my political stance is, and if you didn’t get that from those videos? I don’t know. You must have done something wrong.”
At a Parliament Hill news conference on Wednesday, Mr. Poilievre walked away as a journalist began to ask a question about Ms. Anderson and the MPs.
Ms. Anderson’s party, which dates back to 2013, has espoused anti-immigrant views and has at times trivialized the Nazi dictatorship and the Holocaust. Ms. Anderson has opposed vaccine mandates and voiced her approval of the trucker convoy protests last year.
She was on a tour of Canada last week that included stops in Calgary, Hamilton and Toronto. Questions were raised after three Conservative MPs had a three-hour lunch with Ms. Anderson in Toronto on Feb. 21, then posed with her for a photo that has made its way to social media.
Mr. Poilievre, in a statement late last week, denounced Ms. Anderson’s views and said that the MPs met with the politician without knowing much about her. “The MPs were not aware of this visiting Member of the European Parliament’s opinions, and they regret meeting with her,” said the statement.
The statement was issued by the opposition leader’s director of media relations. Mr. Poilievre, who comments on political matters on his social-media accounts, has not referenced the Anderson issue online.
The three Conservative parliamentarians who met Ms. Anderson are Haldimand-Norfolk MP Leslyn Lewis, a two-time candidate for the leadership of the Conservatives, as well as Oshawa MP Colin Carrie and Niagara West MP Dean Allison.
In a Facebook posting on Wednesday from the U.S., Ms. Anderson said that she is not finished with Canada. “It was a fantastic and wonderful time and I will definitely come back! That’s for sure!”
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Ian Bailey