Stephen Harper grants interview to ex-Breitbart writer accused of influencing Quebec City mosque shooter
Stephen Harper has granted an interview to Ben Shapiro, a far-right personality and ex-Breitbart writer whose content was avidly consumed by Alexandre Bissonnette, the Quebec City mosque shooter who murdered 6 worshippers and injured nineteen others.
Shapiro is a well known far-right online personality and also hosts his own show on Fox News. Shapiro often helps spread conspiracy theories about Muslims and other vulnerable groups.
Court evidence showed that in the lead-up to the attack, Bissonnette was an avid consumer of Shapiro’s content on Twitter having viewed his account 93 times. Many of the media figures Bissonnette followed were also connected to Ezra Levant’s Rebel Media.
Evidence presented at Alexandre Bissonnette's sentencing hearing this morning includes a list of some of the Twitter accounts he was checking in the month before he killed six men at a Quebec City mosque. pic.twitter.com/Xdew4HbjkQ
— Andy Riga, Montreal (@andyriga) April 16, 2018
The connections are compelling. A video by Vic Berger shows how Shapiro obsessively focused on disparaging Muslims, creating a sense of fear and anger with his audience. The video includes Bissonnette’s interview with police where he uses similar arguments as Shapiro to justify his attack.
.@benshaprio denies influencing Quebec City mosque shooter, prosecutors appear to disagree pic.twitter.com/XI5lfYAQuW
— Nathan Bernard (@nathanTbernard) April 24, 2018
Since retiring, Stephen Harper has increasingly embraced America’s far-right while actively undermining Canada.
He recently defended Donald Trump’s nationalism, which critics argue has led to an increase in hate crimes and white nationalism.
While most Canadian politicians presented a united front during NAFTA negotiations, Harper publicly criticized Canada in a memo to his clients. Harper also met secretly with Trump officials during those same negotiations.