Kinsella consulting firm worked to 'seek and destroy' Bernier's PPC party

[macdon02]

Macdon

"There are times political parties have no desire to win. Why? Because if you can step aside during an obvious crash, the people will beg you to come back and save them with zero restriction. Scheer is no genius by any means, he's had no brilliance since he became the leader. It's possible we are gonna get it, good and hard till we cry uncle. This could of been a cake walk to win. Barely any mention of SNC, blackface, the hate of the women experiencing things differently, nothing from Jody, or mention of elbowing anyone in the tits. This election is being thrown by the conservatives. There's no effort. They are to used to being opposition."

This has got to be one of the most desperate excuses I have ever heard coming from the Righties camp!

You Righties give yourselves way to much credit, let's win the election when it best suits the Conservative party! It may be to hard to govern Canada right now so let's throw the upcoming election.

How do you guys come up with this shit!

Im not a righty, i don't like scheer, i don't like Trudy. Are you prone to stepping in front of a train, bus or super b if you can see it coming?

There's some things we don't control, politicians can't control everything. If they did, you and i would be touching dinks and high as hell right now. It isn't happening, we are polarized to the extreme in what is possible. You believe in govt and i don't, regardless the color.

[agstar77]

Nothing better than a person who has never dirtied his hands in his life and lived off his parents. He will do anything to gain power. Could the cons not have found a more worthwhile candidate. He is just not ready.

[Taiga]

So you non-Cons: are you voting Jughead or Trudeau? Are you willing to admit it? Why do you think either of them should be PM?

[newguy]

It all starts at the leadership elections.Trouble is only the core of a party gets involved and everyone has to live with who they select.Kevin Oleary got out of Dodge when he realized who ran the conservatives.

[Hamloc]

Kinsella consulting firm worked to 'seek and destroy' Bernier's PPC party, documents say

Source tells CBC News that Daisy Group was acting for Conservative Party of Canada
Warren Kinsella's Daisy Group consulting firm was behind a social media campaign to put the People's Party of Canada (PPC) on the defensive and keep leader Maxime Bernier out of the federal leaders' debates, according to documents provided to CBC News.

The documents outline the work done by several employees of Daisy on behalf of an unnamed client. A source with knowledge of the project told CBC News that client was the Conservative Party of Canada.

The plan was first reported Friday night by the Globe and Mail.

According to a source with knowledge of the project, who spoke to CBC News on condition they not be named, the objective of the plan, dubbed "Project Cactus," was to make the Conservative Party look more attractive to voters by highlighting PPC candidates' and supporters' xenophobic statements on social media.

The source added that Daisy employed four full-time staffers on Project Cactus at one time.

Kinsella is a lawyer, anti-racism activist and former Liberal strategist who has been a vocal critic of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau.

Repeatedly asked to confirm or explain his party's involvement during a campaign event in Toronto on Saturday, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer refused to answer.

"As a rule, we never make comments on vendors that we may or may not have engaged with," he said repeatedly.

Trudeau was asked today if he has concerns his party could also have been targeted, but he did not answer directly.

"We've seen through this campaign that the Conservatives have had to use the policies of fear and division and indeed, just make stuff up in order to get their message across," he said, during an event in Hamilton.

"Why? It's because they have nothing to offer Canadians except $53 billion worth of cuts."

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said any plan to "subvert" a political party, paid by another party, is "troubling."

"I've made it clear that I don't believe someone like Mr. Bernier should have a platform to spread hateful messages. I think his messages are wrong," he said during a campaign event in Vancouver.

"But at the end of the day, people should be able to discuss and express their opinions, as long as they're not hateful and divisive, and be able to have the forum to do that."

Singh said Scheer should be more transparent and explain his party's actions.

Bernier is expected to respond to the reports during a news conference at 2 p.m. ET in Sainte-Marie, Que.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May faced criticism from her own supporters in July when it was reported that Kinsella had been hired for her party. May told the Toronto Star that Kinsella's involvement, to set up a quick-response communications unit, was short-lived.

When asked Friday for comment about his work on the anti-Bernier project, Kinsella issued a short statement.

"We don't ever discuss client matters," Kinsella said in an email. "We are always proud, however, to be fighting racism and intolerance."

Simon Jefferies, a spokesperson for the Conservative Party, told CBC News, "We do not comment on vendors or suppliers we may or may not be using."
'Seek and destroy'

Documents seen by CBC News outline a plan to "seek and destroy" the PPC and prevent Bernier from getting into the leaders' debates.

The project was designed with three phases, according to the documents.

The first involved research and branding in March and April. The second was identified as a "launch phase" known as "seek and destroy," running from April 16 through to June 30, the start of the pre-writ period when new restrictions kicked in for third-party advertising.

The third phase, to run "July 1st 2019 to TBD" was called the "full steam ahead phase," where the team would "push Maxime Bernier and the PCC off their messages — forcing them, instead, to defend instances of hate speech and sympathy for racism."

Portions of a WhatsApp Chatroom set up by Daisy for Project Cactus and shared with CBC News show Daisy employees workshopping tweets critical of PPC candidates or supporters before asking Kinsella's approval. The tweets were then published on STAMP Out Hate, a Twitter account set up April 24 for an existing anti-racism nonprofit run by Daisy.
Part of the plan involved setting up a Twitter account related to an anti-hate initiative connected to Daisy, known as Standing Together Against Misogyny and Prejudice, or STAMP. (Twitter)

In the documents seen by CBC News, drafted prior to the launch, STAMP is described as a screen for the project and its client.

"Daisy will create an arm's-length organization that cannot be linked to the client or any participating organization. This organization will run a proxy war room public relations campaign that allows real Canadians to shine a light on the prejudice and hate that is associated with the PPC," a Daisy consultant writes.
Anti-PPC tweets dried up after June 29

Tweets for the STAMP Twitter account that were workshopped in the chatroom and later tweeted out by the account are still visible online.

The STAMP Out Hate account lambasted the PPC, its candidates and its supporters right up until June 29, a day before new election rules regarding third-party advertisers came into effect. The account has since stopped attacking Bernier's party but has continued to tweet anti-racist messages.

There is no indication whether any further work was done after June 29.

So let me get this straight everybody is lighting their hair on fire over the conservative's hiring Kinsella's firm to essentially send out anti-racism tweets targeting the PPC? Hmmmm, seems like a good idea to me. If you look at the support nationally for the PPC at roughly 3-3.5% and assuming a good portion of those supporters would vote Conservative if the PPC didn't exist I certainly think it was a good idea to target the PPC. One other thing Chuck, I used to believe it was possible that you actively farmed, I no longer do as you never comment on your harvest progress and only comment on politics but having said that I do enjoy be able to have a window into the mind of those who believe in big government. I believe government is a parasite that as it continues to grow is in danger of consuming the host! Enjoy your day.

[jazz]

S One other thing Chuck, I used to believe it was possible that you actively farmed, I no longer do as you never comment on your harvest progress and only comment on politics

Honestly I don't even think chuck is on the prairies because no rational human being would look at the weather we have had and say global warming is going to kill us.

[chuckChuck]

Honestly I don't even think chuck is on the prairies because no rational human being would look at the weather we have had and say global warming is going to kill us.

Well there is one of your problems in full display. You still don’t seem to know the difference between climate and weather. And our crops got snowed on twice this year. And I know that you can’t measure climate based on one years bad or good weather.

[blackpowder]

As my riding is a gauruntee for the PCs, I'm voting Bernier.

[Guest]

As my riding is a gauruntee for the PCs, I'm voting Bernier.

Me too

[6V53]

Honestly I don't even think chuck is on the prairies because no rational human being would look at the weather we have had and say global warming is going to kill us.

What makes you think chuck is one person? I'm sure Gerald Buttss has a rather large budget as did Joseph goebbels .

[checking]

Honestly, I don't know why carbon copy-carbon credit isn't out combining his alfalfa instead of being pistol whipped on here.

Two snow events, but be honest, they were not serious. Serious is Manitoba with their lakes of run off. Our events were like waking up before a dream phase started. Their event was like waking up to find the harness you took off a nightmare was on the chair by the bedpost.