I've been holding off on this but I thought I would provide some commentary on an incident that occurred during the Emergency Act inquiry (POEC) early this past week.
First though, I'm going to talk about Ray Epps and why Canadian right-wing extremists and conspiracy believers are talking about him now:
Ray Epps is an American conservative and Trump supporter who was at the Capitol on January 6 during the insurrection and attempted overturning of the presidential election results. In a video he was seen urging people to enter the Capitol. Since then the conspiracy theorists have claimed with no proof that Epps was in fact a "deep state" agitator who wanted to discredit the efforts of the Trump supporters on that day and not, as is true, an elderly Trump supporter whose life is now in turmoil as a result of the accusation against him (including by Trump himself).
It doesn't matter how ridiculous the claim is; Epps was a single person in a sea of humanity and if you're going to suggest that crowd had to be convinced by one old man to storm the Capitol then there are many bridges in many Brooklyns I would like to sell you. This story fits a narrative and no amount of proof will convince the true believers otherwise.
So with that, let's get to the story, shall we?
Prior to the incident I will be writing about, the big news emerging from the inquiry was that CSIS had advised that the Prime Minister invoke the Emergency Act in response to the occupation in Ottawa and the border blockades in BC, Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario.
I wrote as a bit of an aside I wrote extensively about the occupation and border blockades at the time:
However soon a lawyer representing the "Freedom Convoy" made a bombshell claim in which he implicated an executive with Enterprise Canada in an incident that occurred in the early days of the occupation. Brendan Miller suggested this executive, who he accused of carrying a Nazi flag, was a "Liberal plant" who was sent by the government in an effort to discredit the soon-to-be occupiers of the city of Ottawa.
Miller's demand to order the executive as well as two others was ultimately dismissed as a fishing expedition, but the one witness that Miller wanted whom he claimed to have identified the executive in Ottawa is of some interest:
Shawn Folkes was one of the attendees of the "Freedom Convoy" occupation on Ottawa and early on claimed to have spoken to the person carrying the flag:
It would appear that Brendan Miller put in all his eggs into the basket that is Shawn Folkes, a person who posted things like this during the occupation:
But is worse than even just that:
So this appears to be the evidence that Brendan Miller went with to help prove the Liberal government set up otherwise peaceful protesters, he word of a man who not only threatened violence against those who opposed the occupation but also who happened to "remember" the person the same day Miller would subsequently claim the executive was the one with the Nazi flag.
But it was all enough to convince the many right-wing extremists, conspiracy theory promoters, and hard-core anti-government folks as it confirmed their particular biases. Among those who accepted the truth of Miller's accusations with absolutely no question were mayor Jay Riedel (
yeah, he is an actual mayor) who at one time
worked with Pat King on the United We Roll convoy to Ottawa that was tied to the Yellow Vest movement and Wayne Peters, a conspiracy promoter associated with the Yellow Vests, Pegida Canada, and the Canadian Nationalist Party among other right-wing extremist groups who claims that all the people who received the Covid vaccine will be dead within 5 years:
But it wasn't just these folks who ran with Miller's claim as gospel truth.
