Latest news with #ManningConference
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Carney apologizes for fake Trump-style buttons, Liberal staffers 'reassigned'
OTTAWA — Liberal Leader Mark Carney said on Monday he was 'unaware' that Liberal staffers had planted some fake Trump-style buttons at a conservative conference last week but nonetheless apologized for this 'unreservedly' on behalf on his campaign. 'This is totally unacceptable, to be absolutely clear,' he said at a campaign stop in Montreal in response to CBC News, who broke the story on Sunday. 'I was unaware of this behaviour, but on behalf of my campaign, I apologize for it unreservedly.' 'I've made it absolutely clear to my campaign that this behaviour or anything approximating it or in that spirit is unacceptable (and) cannot happen again,' he added. Carney said the staffers who were responsible for planting the buttons, have been 'reassigned within the campaign.' Liberal staffers were caught bragging about how they planted buttons at last week's Canada Strong and Free Network conference, also known as the Manning Conference, in downtown Ottawa. The conversation happened in earshot of a CBC reporter on Friday. In a statement provided Sunday night, Liberal spokesperson Kevin Lemkay acknowledged the button controversy, suggesting that it was a joke that got carried away. One of the buttons said 'Stop the Steal,' referencing U.S. President Donald Trump's attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Others reportedly included a 'Free Alberta' button alongside a pair of handcuffs, a 'Lock Justin Up' button printed over prison bars, a 'Vote for Carney is a Vote for WEXIT,' and a 'Danielle Smith for CPC Leader 2026' button. Another featured Tory campaign director Jenni Byrne's crossed-off name, alongside Conservative strategist Kory Teneycke, in reference to reports of party infighting over campaign strategy. Calgary-area MP Michelle Rempel Garner called the spread of fake campaign pins 'disgusting.' — With files from Adam Huras, Postmedia. More details to follow. National Post calevesque@ Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our politics newsletter, First Reading, here.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Spread of fake campaign pins 'disgusting,' says senior Tory
Two Liberal staffers made fake Trump-style buttons and planted them at a conference of Canadian conservatives last week. But they were exposed after they discussed the plot at an Ottawa bar and were overheard by a CBC reporter. The bombshell story shows a disturbing effort to spread disinformation, Calgary-area MP Michelle Rempel Garner told National Post, adding it should be viewed as a dishonest and disturbing attempt to distract Canadians from the issues at hand in the ongoing election. 'It's disgusting,' Rempel Garner said. 'What I'm hearing on the door right now is how serious this election is, how high the stakes are for people, particularly when it comes to issues related to affordability, cost of living, and frankly crime, too. 'And here you've got the Liberals taking a lot of effort – to graphic design, to actually make things or order them – to infiltrate a conference. 'This is what their campaign is focused on.' The story published Sunday by CBC News says Liberal election staffers planted buttons at last week's Canada Strong and Free Network conference in downtown Ottawa. The conference, referred to often as the Manning Conference, is known as a policy and networking hotbed for conservative-leaning Canadians. The plan to plant the buttons appeared to go off without a hitch. Word of them made it into a Shannon Proudfoot Globe and Mail column last week. But the scheme unravelled after Liberal campaign workers were caught bragging about it in an Ottawa bar Friday evening, in earshot of a CBC reporter. According to the story on the broadcaster's website, one of the buttons said 'Stop the Steal' — referencing U.S. President Donald Trump's attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election — while another featured Tory campaign director Jenni Byrne's crossed-off name, alongside Conservative strategist Kory Teneycke. There are reports of others, including a 'Free Alberta' button alongside a pair of handcuffs, a 'Lock Justin Up' button printed over prison bars, a 'Vote for Carney is a Vote for WEXIT,' and a 'Danielle Smith for CPC Leader 2026' button. Teneycke has been a vocal critic of Byrne's management of the federal Conservative campaign. He has suggested Pierre Poilievre is on track to lose the federal election unless he pivots and responds more directly to Canadians' fear over U.S. President Donald Trump's economic war against Canada. That's as the campaign has featured the Liberals regularly accusing Poilievre of 'American-style campaigning' in an attempt to tarnish the Conservative leader by comparing him to Trump. Rempel Garner suggested the buttons expose the lengths of that Liberal effort. 'The fact that their campaign went on a purposeful attempt to sow that type of disinformation into such an important election is just disgusting,' she said. 'This is what the Liberals are willing to do. They're willing to do purposeful, sophisticated disinformation campaigns to distract from their record (and) divide the country, instead of offering what we're offering, which is a plan full of hope.' The Post has reached out to the Liberals for comment on the allegations. They have yet to respond. 'Mark Carney is hiding from the media, good luck getting comment from him on that,' Rempel Garner said. 'This is their go-to tactic. 'They are trying to distract from their record, they are trying to distract from their lack of policies, they are trying to distract from all of Mark Carney's scandals that he hasn't been able to answer in the last couple of weeks, so this is what they do.' Rempel Garner said she will take the new ammunition to the door. 'I will get back on the doors with that message,' she said. More to come… National Post Get more deep-dive National Post political coverage and analysis in your inbox with the Political Hack newsletter, where Ottawa bureau chief Stuart Thomson and political analyst Tasha Kheiriddin get at what's really going on behind the scenes on Parliament Hill every Wednesday and Friday, exclusively for subscribers. Sign up here.
CBC
13-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Liberal operatives planted 'stop the steal' buttons at conservative conference
Two Liberal Party staffers attended last week's Canada Strong and Free Networking (CSFN) Conference where they planted buttons that used Trump-style language and highlighted division within the Conservative Party. The conference, often referred to by its former name, the Manning Conference, is an opportunity for conservative-leaning Canadians to talk about policy proposals and network. It was held at the Westin Hotel in downtown Ottawa. Some attendees noticed buttons appearing at the event. One said "stop the steal" — an apparent reference to Donald Trump's attempts to overturn the result of the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The Liberal Party of Canada has sought to tie Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to the American president in speeches and ads. Some Conservative supporters have expressed skepticism about polling numbers that put the Liberals ahead. Another button had the name "Jenni Byrne" crossed out, with the name "Kory Teneycke" underneath. Byrne is the national campaign director for the Conservative Party of Canada. Teneycke is a longtime Conservative strategist, who played a key role in Ontario Premier Doug Ford's re-election campaign. He has been deeply critical of the Conservative Party of Canada's campaign to date. The buttons were scattered in the event space in a way to give the impression that they were made and left by people attending the conference. In fact, the idea came from the Liberal war room. On Friday night, in two Ottawa bars, campaign workers shared how the party was behind this move — how two Liberal Party staffers attended the conference intended for conservatives and placed these buttons in areas where attendees would find them. One of those conversations was in the immediate earshot of this journalist. A Conservative source overheard the other conversation. The Liberal Party did not respond to a request for comment, but also did not deny their campaign's involvement. "It's unfortunate, but not surprising that the Liberals would seek to misrepresent the views of attendees of our conference," said CSFN spokesperson Alex Spence in a statement. "These divisive, gimmicky tactics say more about the Liberals than they do of the united and growing Conservative movement." Sources told CBC News that people working on the Poilievre campaign were instructed not to attend the conference, and instead be out door-knocking. "Despite their public claims, it's clear that it's the Liberals who are attempting to bring American-style politics to our country," said Conservative Party of Canada spokesperson Sam Lilly in a statement. "One wonders what other dirty tricks the Liberals are behind as they desperately seek to distract from their disastrous record while seeking a fourth Liberal term."
