A group of Conservative members of parliament are wearing egg on their face today across social media, following a meeting they held with Christine Anderson, a member of the Alternative for Germany political party (AfD), as well as a Member of the European Parliament.
Conservative MP’s Leslyn Lewis, Colin Carrie, and Dean Allison met with Anderson as part of a cross-Canada tour she is currently undertaking. It’s unclear specifically what the purpose behind the tour is, aside from raising funds, with Anderson holding dinners across the country, with ticket prices ranging from $20 to $500 depending upon the venue.
The Canadian MP’s have been met with heavy criticism following their meeting, given Anderson’s past statements related to Muslims and her involvement with PEGIDA, or Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the Occident, which is a noted anti-immigrant far-right group.
The AfD meanwhile, which she is a member of, is a populist right-wing party in the German legislature known for being anti-immigration and anti-EU. It was formed in 2013, and in the years since has continued to move further to the right, with policies said to be anti-Islam and German nationalist. In 2022, the party saw its leader Jorg Meuthen resign while stating that the party had developed totalitarian traits, while Germany in the year prior had begun surveilling the party as a suspected extremist group.
One founder of the party, Alexander Gauland, has previously talked of fighting the “invasion of foreigners,” and has also stated that the Nazi era of Germany is “just a speck of bird’s muck in more than 1,000 years of successful Germany history.” A regional leader, Bjorn Hocke, meanwhile referred to the Holocaust memorial as a “monument of shame,” while demanding a change in how the country handles its recent past.
In responding to the meeting conducted by the three MP’s, party leader Pierre Poilievre is said to have commented that Anderson’s “views are vile and have no place in our politics.” He then went on to state that “the MP’s were not aware of this visiting Member of European Parliament’s opinions, and they regret meeting her.”
This statement however brings much into question – as political columnist Sabrina Maddeaux for the National Post puts it, “If they knew what she represents, they’re a liability. If they didn’t know or bother to know, they’re also a liability.”
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