Alex Boyd

Alex Boyd, Emma McIntosh

A ‘jaw-dropper’ poll showed surging support for an Alberta separatist party. Turns out the polling firm and the party weren’t so separate

After a chaotic summer in Alberta — during which separatist sentiment either trended upwards or was hugely overblown, depending on who you asked — a new poll offered an answer. The survey, published by fledgling polling firm Cardinal Research last month, showed 11 per cent of decided voters throwing their support behind the Republican Party of Alberta. It appeared to...

Alex Boyd

Diversity, equity and inclusion are coming under scrutiny — and Pierre Poilievre is ready to push the conversation

Diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives are in the crosshairs south of the border and now the mantle has been taken up by the federal Conservative party, which has released a new petition taking aim at DEI and what it calls “bloated” bureaucracy and “identity checkboxes.” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre sent the link out to his X followers on Thanksgiving Monday...

Alex Boyd

An Alberta riding sizes up Pierre Poilievre as its next MP

The balloons have long since deflated and drifted back to earth, the lawn signs and ballot boxes packed away. In most of the country, anyway. But for Pierre Poilievre, the election campaign never really ended. After the Conservative leader lost the Ottawa-area riding of Carleton, which he’d held for 21 years, to a Liberal newcomer, he was cast out into...

Alex Boyd

Why conspiracy theorists are trying so hard to falsely link Mark Carney and Jeffrey Epstein

As an economist and central banker at the highest levels, Liberal leader Mark Carney is “almost a perfect target” for baseless conspiracy theories. If attack ads are any measure, Mark Carney is squarely in the political big leagues.

Alex Boyd

Jordan Peterson’s free speech ideology drew them to his online academy. Then they were expelled for speaking out

The chatter had the energy of a freshman dorm during the first week of classes — just with a lot more heroic-looking images of Jordan Peterson. When Peterson, the controversial Canadian psychologist, launched his self-branded online learning platform last year, it was with the lofty promise of a university-calibre education that would be accessible to the masses, initially priced at...

Alex Boyd, Mark Ramzy

Elon Musk has Donald Trump’s ear and a new-found interest in Canada. How much should we worry?

Donald Trump’s return to the White House on Monday has already proven to be a thorn in the side of Canadian officials, but his second presidency brings additional baggage for Canada: Elon Musk. The close adviser to Trump, owner of the social media platform X and richest man on Earth has a new-found interest in Canada, a ratio of five...

Alex Boyd

How far-right influencers are weaponizing Canada as a warning to Americans — and why it’s also changing the way we see ourselves

Lauren Southern, aged 29, is nostalgic for the good old days. In a 17-minute video posted by Tenet Media five months ago titled “My Home Town’s Been Destroyed,” the Canadian-born darling of certain far-right corners of the internet takes viewers to Surrey, B.C., illustrated by soaring drone shots of single family homes backdropped by the Fraser River. Mentally, Southern invites...

Alex Boyd

Here’s how right-wing voices are arguing Donald Trump’s win proves Joe Biden lost in 2020

Donald Trump’s second presidential victory was a lot of things — a comeback for the ages for a convicted felon, a rebuke of the Democratic message; a rejigging of the American political order. But it’s also, according to a number of prominent right wing voices on the internet, proof that the 2020 election was rigged in favour of Joe Biden...

Alex Boyd

Danielle Smith became Alberta’s premier with the support of her party’s right wing. Is her job now at risk because of it?

There’s no question Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is battle-tested. It’s been two years since she squeaked by on the sixth ballot to replace Jason Kenney as leader of the United Conservatives, the party he created; 23 months since she retook a seat in the legislature by winning a byelection in a rural riding where she does not live; and more...

Alex Boyd

Jordan Peterson’s new online school promises to dispense with ‘woke nonsense.’ I enrolled — and here’s what I learned

Peterson Academy is a business venture, a thumb of the nose to his previous employer — and the next evolution of the man who is one of Canada’s biggest digital exports. Alone in my home office, I feel unprepared to be wrestling with the death of God. On my computer screen, Toronto-based psychologist turned conservative culture warrior Jordan Peterson paces...

Alex Boyd

Who really posted those awkward tweets praising a Pierre Poilievre rally? Here’s what might be going on

If online chatter was to be believed, the northern Ontario town of Kirkland Lake — founded on gold, sustained by hockey, population roughly 8,000 — was abuzz last week. “Just got back from Pierre Poilievre’s rally,” read one post on X, formerly Twitter. The user, who wrote her bio in Spanish and listed her location as France, continued the emphatic...

Alex Boyd

Doug Ford calls Tory MPP’s meeting with British far-right figure ‘deeply regrettable’

A meeting between Goldie Ghamari and British far-right figure Tommy Robinson is “deeply regrettable,” Premier Doug Ford’s office said after the Carlton MPP posted — and then deleted — a screenshot of their video conversation. In an emailed statement, Ford’s office condemned the decision to “give a platform to an individual whose behaviour and beliefs are at odds with our...

Raisa Patel, Alex Boyd

New Divorce Party? Naheed Nenshi’s to-do list as Alberta’s new NDP leader includes breaking up with Jagmeet Singh’s federal party

In some ways, the relationship between the NDP’s Jagmeet Singh and newly elected Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi is starting to feel a little one-sided. Nenshi, the former Calgary mayor who on Saturday succeeded Rachel Notley to take the party’s helm, ran his campaign, in part, on his desire to divorce his party from its federal roots.

Alex Boyd

Naheed Nenshi has launched his political return. Is Alberta ready for him and his purple socks?

In those times when a truck-sized pipe shatters, throttling the water supply to over a million people — let’s say, in Calgary, where it happened this week — it pays to have a few extra socks. “I’ve managed to avoid doing laundry the entire time because I have an incredibly deep sock drawer, which is full of purple socks that...

Alex Boyd

Years later, fury still burns hot over COVID-19 restrictions — and even politicians who opposed them are feeling the heat

The pandemic may be waning and restrictions in the rear-view mirror, but this week the long arm of COVID politics flexed the grip it still has on Alberta, with Danielle Smith, arguably the country’s most vaccine-skeptical premier, trying to distance herself from a town hall questioning the safety of shots for children. The problem? The event — which promises to...

Alex Boyd

Pierre Poilievre has been accused of flirting with Diagolon. Here’s what the extremist group thinks of that

The question of Pierre Poilievre’s ties — real or otherwise — to an extremist online group known as Diagolon are back in the spotlight with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accusing him of welcoming “the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists.” But does Diagolon actually support Poilievre? The loosely organized online group trades in virulently racist and antisemitic rhetoric and has...