Where There's Smoke, There's Fire

"The statements, to me, are totally ridiculous. They exaggerate and distort stuff that I wrote like 15, 20 years ago and they take citations out of context to make me say things that I did not say."
"And especially implying that I'm some kind of neo-Nazi. It's just, like, totally crazy."
"I did attack LGBTQ groups, because I don't think they represent me as a gay man. They imply that I'm anti-gay. No. This is crazy. I'm gay."
"It's not a question of pandering [Mr. Bernier's defence of Mr. Masse] to anyone today. It's a question of, we've been working together very closely for 15 years. That's why he's [Bernier] defending me."
Martin Masse, friend and adviser to Maxime Bernier, leader, The Peoples' Party

"As a non-profit, nonpartisan human rights organization, B'nai Brith is well known for regularly identifying the promoters of hatred, racism and anti-Semitism from all sectors of Canadian society."
"One would expect that the leader of a federal party would immediately expunge senior staff members who have expressed such radical and repulsive views when it is called to their attention."
"We were shocked that, upon presenting this information to Mr. Bernier, he defended his top adviser, Mr. Masse."
Michael Mostyn, CEO, B'nai Brith Canada

"I think Max is pandering to the wrong people by defending the exposed hateful prejudices of his policy adviser."
"Unfortunately it does seem to be a confirmation of sorts that perhaps it's a reflection of desperation for votes, perhaps it's an unwillingness to make hard decisions in a party which is struggling to find its feet."
Peter Kent, former Conservative cabinet minister

"The racist people are not welcome in the party and that won't change. That's crazy. I'm not surprised, [at the charges] because our party's doing very well (in fundraising and fielding candidates)."
"Maybe they [B'nai Brith] want to do that [charge Masse with bigotry] because they’re supporting another party. I think, doing that, they are not doing a favour to their organization. Because it’s [their charges] not credible."
Maxime Bernier, leader, People's Party of Canada

People's Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier in January.   Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press

Sooner or later, intense sleuthing from any source looking to unearth the true, underlying intentions, impressions and beliefs of political operatives find what can only be classified as 'incriminating evidence' of beliefs and thought-processes that do betray the presence of prejudice and bigotry and plain old misinformed conclusions on the part of those running for public office or working behind the scenes to aid those politicians whose agendas they support by delving into the record -- often through the Internet, sometimes through otherwise-published commentary -- to dig up old statements.

Every party seems to attract the occasional presence of individuals with ideas, preconceptions and beliefs that are decidedly unsavoury and the revelations that those statements exhibiting their social and political positions identifying them as unsuitable for the position they hold, bring opprobrium to the party they belong to. Generally, any political party that discovers in their midst the presence of those with unacceptable ideological strains of illogic or discriminatory beliefs will make short shrift of distancing themselves.

The "independent investigation" undertaken by B'nai Brith Canada, a Jewish-Canadian group whose focus is on defending human rights and unearthing instances of public abuse against minority groups, in particular Jews, found commentary by Maxime Bernier's right-hand man and personal friend that offended the standards of equality and human rights. In a review of his work for a now-defunct online media outlet, Le Quebecois Libre, the views expressed by Martin Masse failed to pass the standard test of social decency.

His commentary on Israel and U.S. interventionism in the Middle East while defending notorious right-wing ideologues failed to sit well with B'nai Brith, leading them to publish a press release with links to over a dozen articles from the outlet, written by this man in which his prejudices were revealed. In response Messrs. Bernier and Masse speculated that an underlying political agenda motivated the human rights group to accuse Mr. Masse of deceit and bigotry; presumably that B'nai Brith was working to support the Conservative Party of Canada against the breakaway PPC.

B'nai Brith itself is in full denial, holding a "lengthy dossier" reflecting Mr. Masse's sentiments and comments apart from those linked and referred to in their media release. Mr. Masse's defence, for example published in 2002, of France's Jean-Marie Le Pen (since superceded by his more moderate daughter) a man who was convicted several times of denial of the Holocaust, a crime under French law, identifies Mr. Masse's sympathies as linked with those of Mr. Le Pen.

Writing on the same forum about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict his views, sympathetic to the Palestinians, accused Israel of co-opting Zionism as "just another fancy justification for killing and displacing Palestinians", a whopping libel if there ever was one. He accused countries of the West of interventions making the situation in the Middle East even more egregiously violent. The philosophy of libertarianism (the ideological bent of the Internet site he wrote on) should not mitigate toward a pro-Israel position, he averred.

A 2008 article he wrote decried "femi-fascists" in expressing opposition to forcing men-only drinking establishments in Quebec to relent and permit women entry, referring to women's gyms barring men representing a double standard. an absurd equation of unsupportable equivalency. He also characterized groups such as B'nai Brith back in 2000 as "ethnic barons" for which political power is a preoccupying concern. His character revealed by his own words.

Bernier with longtime friend and adviser Martin Masse, who has helped Mr. Bernier to set up his new political party after the parting with the Conservative Party of Canada. (Submitted )