{"id":217302,"date":"2019-06-03T22:29:27","date_gmt":"2019-06-04T02:29:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=217302"},"modified":"2019-06-03T22:29:27","modified_gmt":"2019-06-04T02:29:27","slug":"boot-cooper-from-tory-caucus-over-comments-on-online-hate-liberal-mp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/06\/03\/boot-cooper-from-tory-caucus-over-comments-on-online-hate-liberal-mp\/","title":{"rendered":"Boot Cooper from Tory caucus over comments on online hate: Liberal MP"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Cooper also named the man, though media and public figures are increasingly trying to deny celebrity to attackers by omitting their names from coverage. (File Photo<\/a>: Michael Cooper\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

OTTAWA \u2014 Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer should eject colleague Michael Cooper from the Tory caucus over things the MP said about online hate in a parliamentary hearing last week, says a Liberal MP.<\/p>\n

Edmonton Centre MP Randy Boissonnault says Scheer’s decision to remove Cooper from the committee that held the hearing, but not from caucus, shows there’s a \u201crevolving door\u201d for bigots in the Conservative party.<\/p>\n

During a May 28 meeting on the topic of online hate, Cooper quoted from the manifesto of the man charged with the mass murder in Christchurch, New Zealand in March.<\/p>\n

Cooper also named the man, though media and public figures are increasingly trying to deny celebrity to attackers by omitting their names from coverage.<\/p>\n

Cooper was responding to testimony from a Muslim witness, Faisal Khan Suri, who told the committee the man responsible for the 2017 attack on a mosque in Quebec City consumed content from \u201canti-immigrant, alt-right and conservative commentators.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suri said the man alleged to have carried out the attacks in Christchurch, which left 51 people dead, was influenced by similar content.<\/p>\n

\u201cI take great umbrage with your defamatory comments to try to link conservatism with violent extremist attacks,\u201d Cooper told Suri. \u201cThey have no foundation, they’re defamatory, and they diminish your credibility as a witness.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Conservative MP, who represents St. Albert-Edmonton, released a statement on Facebook Saturday apologizing for the incident, calling it \u201cill-advised.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI absolutely should not have quoted these words nor named the perpetrator. This was a mistake,\u201d Cooper said. \u201cI apologize to Mr. Suri and to all Canadians. I reiterate that I unequivocally condemn all forms of racism.\u201d<\/p>\n

A short while later, Scheer released a statement on Twitter saying he had spoken to Cooper and they had agreed the MP would no longer serve on the justice committee. Scheer called the incident \u201cinsensitive and unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Tory leader added that he had accepted Cooper’s apology and considered the matter closed.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Cooper is a good person who made a mistake, and has taken responsibility, and apologized while denouncing hateful rhetoric,\u201d he said Monday, in a statement relayed through a spokesman. He condemned Boissonnault for \u201ctrying to score cheap political points off of a terrible tragedy\u201d and pointed out that Liberal MPs have crossed the line on social media without serious consequences.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only thing that gets you kicked out of the Liberal party is speaking the truth about Justin Trudeau’s involvement in the SNC-Lavalin corruption scandal,\u201d Scheer concluded.<\/p>\n

Suri also called for Cooper to be kicked out of the Conservative caucus.<\/p>\n

Boissonnault said Monday that given there are only three weeks left in the parliamentary session, removing Cooper from committee was a \u201cwoefully inadequate\u201dand \u201cinsufficient\u201d response from Scheer.<\/p>\n

Cooper’s actions in the committee meeting came the same day Scheer gave a speech in which he said bigots are not welcome in the Conservative party, saying \u201cthere’s the door\u201d to anyone who believes race, religion, gender or sexual orientation makes them superior.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OTTAWA \u2014 Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer should eject colleague Michael Cooper from the Tory caucus over things the MP said …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":217304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-217302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-christian-paas-lang","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217302"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":217305,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217302\/revisions\/217305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}