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Anti-democratic Forces in Canada

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From A Letter From A Maritimer

The far-right messaging is getting louder. There’s more of it, more aggressive, more targeted. The same narratives that ran during the federal election are back, repackaged with new language but aimed at the same people. 

My read? Someone changed tactics. The Conservative Party took a beating in the recent by-elections, and this looks like the response. Flood the zone. Crank up the machine.

I want to be honest about what I know and what I don’t. I’m one person watching feeds. I don’t have access to real-time platform data. I can’t hand you a number and say “here is the proof the level of activity has increased”.

What I can tell you is this. The machine capable of producing exactly what I’m seeing was identified and documented in public, in detail, less than a year ago. And the institution that should be monitoring coordinated anti-democratic messaging in Canada between elections does not yet exist.

Canada carries a particular vulnerability that most democracies don’t. In 2023, Meta removed Canadian news from Facebook and Instagram in retaliation for legislation that would have required the platform to compensate Canadian journalism for content shared on its feeds. The practical effect was to create a vacuum where credible, fact-checked reporting used to be. Canada Proud moved in. Because it isn’t classified as a news organization under Meta’s content policies, it posts freely on the same platforms that now block the CBC, the Globe and Mail, and every local news outlet in the country. 

The result is an information environment where a politically connected attack operation with 1.4 million followers reaches more Canadians on Facebook every week than any legitimate news organization in the country, and the platforms have no obligation to treat it differently than they would a neighbourhood community group. Meta didn’t intend to build a disinformation delivery system. But that is what it built. And Canada Proud has been one of the primary beneficiaries.

https://aletterfromamaritimer.substack.com/p/anti-democratic-forces-are-using?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=3257973&post_id=194525971&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=cgren&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

I’d say this is serious. Not something to ignore.
I have sent a letter to my MP – Lena Metledge Diab.

We can all see what is happening. Anti-democratic forces are using a bullhorn in this country, in the open, and they have been doing it for months. The research is on the record. The network is documented. The government has been told what is at stake and what needs to be built.

What is missing right now is the political will to act, and that only moves when citizens demand it.

I’ve said it before that this is not the Conservative Party of the past, the one that many of us Canadians voted for. That is a separate conversation, and it is one we need to have.

But right now, today, the ask is simple. We see the threat to our democracy. Say so. Loudly. To the people we elected to protect Canada, our people, this democracy.

That is not someone else’s job. It is ours.

The disinformation is getting louder, more targeted, more mean and disruptive. We can’t sit back and wait for someone else to step up. Each of us has to engage before it’s too late and the hate rolls across our country like that anti-vax truck covey two years ago!

Jan 4, 2026

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My 83rd birthday was on Friday. For several reasons I chose to hold the party on Saturday, yesterday. So I was busy the whole day picking up food, setting up the room, welcoming and enjoying my guests, cleaning up afterward. I had a lovely day. I had no time to see what was happening in the world.

It wasn’t until evening that I looked at the news and discovered the US moves on Venezuela. I didn’t see the trump “victory” press event (I wouldn’t have watched it, anyway). This morning I have read two reactions that offer a sense of what will now transpire.

Michael Cohen explains what will happen in court on Monday when Maduro and his wife are brought before the judge there. https://substack.com/home/post/p-183424483

This case will not be decided by press conferences at Mar-a-Lago or chest-thumping rhetoric about “illegitimate rulers.” It will be decided motion by motion, evidentiary hearing by evidentiary hearing, under the watchful eye of a judge who has already demonstrated he will not allow the executive branch to trample constitutional boundaries; no matter how politically popular the target.

Maduro will plead not guilty. His wife will plead not guilty. And then the real work begins.

Trump may have wanted a trophy. What he got instead was Judge Hellerstein.

And trust me; having been on the receiving end of his rulings when the government overreaches, that’s not the outcome this administration thinks it is.

In other words, he explains, a long drawn out circus that now begins.

I also read Timothy Snyder – a look at some similar US incursions where the outcomes were not what they hoped for. He implies this time is likely no different. https://snyder.substack.com/p/venezuela-the-precedents?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email-restack-comment&r=cgren&triedRedirect=true

The point of these four comparisons is not that history repeats. It is that history reveals. It can help us see around corners, into possible futures. Each of these examples, I hope, provides a useful perspective: that American imperialism is a tradition; that removing something or someone does not lead to predictable results; that dispensing with international law is not only wrong but undesirable; that foreign military actions can be about domestic regime change. What we see we can stop; what we understand we can change.

Snyder has a broad understanding of fascism and dictatorships – the focus of his scholarship. It’s worth reading his piece to understand trump’s play here and what some of the unexpected consequences might be.

Phillips P. Obrien yesterday (written before it was clear what precisely had occurred in Venezuela) points our gaze to Cuba and some unexpected consequences of the US military operation in Venezuela.

If this military operation is for real, getting rid of Maduro might be the easiest part of it. He will not be mourned by the Venezuelan people and already his ability to secure capital was under threat. I’m sure everyone around is calculating whether now is the moment to cut and run—or even turn him over. 

However its what comes after that will determine this. If the Venezuelan people are allowed to establish a free and democratic country, with control of their own natural resources, this will be a good thing. However, very few of the outside actors seem to have prioritized this. The USA has made a claim to Venezuelan oil itself, and the Trump administration prefers dictators/autocrats to democrats. The Cubans will also not want a democratic Venezuela in charge of its own destiny and we can assume that some members of the Venezuelan security forces will prefer another strong-man to keep control and spread around the corrupt takings. Sorry if I sound cynical.

So, no tears for Maduro, but do not assume that what comes after will be better or that this will be over soon. And watch the Cubans.

Ann Telnaes sums all of this up as well as anyone: https://substack.com/home/post/p-183299999

Just after the release of former special counsel Jack Smith’s deposition where he unequivocally states that Trump “engaged in a criminal scheme” to overturn the 2020 election, Trump changes the conversation.