Conservative MP Michael Cooper Parties With Far-Right Group That Mobbed MPs, Disrupted Terry Fox Ceremony

One of Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative MPs was spotted at an after-party for a far-right group that has been mobbing parliamentarians, disrupting ceremonies honouring Terry Fox and getting into altercations with NDP leader Jagmeet Singh.

Michael Cooper, Poilievre’s shadow minister for Democratic Reform, stopped by a party at the Red Pepper restaurant on Queen Street to pose for photos with a group that has been confronting MPs in the streets of Ottawa and accusing them of “treason.”

The so-called “Wellington Street Regulars” are a convoy spin-off group that has been staging daily protests outside Parliament Hill for the last two years and are known for livestreaming videos of themselves aggressively confronting MPs.

A number of the group’s regular members say they are on security lists and banned from entering the House of Commons.

On Monday, the first day of the fall sitting of parliament, dozens of individuals linked to the “Wellington Street Regulars” and other conspiratorial far-right groups gathered at an entrance to Parliament Hill to confront MPs on their way into the House of Commons.

Flying American and Russian flags while hanging upside down Canadian flags, the group heckled MPs, denouncing them as “traitors” and shouting out accusations of “treason.”

Source: Right Blend (Facebook)

 Following the event, Poilievre’s Democratic Reform critic attended an after-party held at the Red Pepper attended by participants at the event.

Chris Dacey, a far-right livestreamer who previously disclosed the Sergeant-at-Arms had given him a one-year ban from the House of Commons, posted one set of photos showing Cooper meeting with members of the group that

Source: Chris Dacey (Facebook)

Another photo posted on social media shows Cooper with a far-right livestreamer named Christine Cameron, who tweeted: “MP Conservative Michael Cooper came to our Truck Yeah birthday party.”

Livestreamed videos from the event shows members of the far-right group seemingly starstruck by the appearance of a Conservative MP at their after-party.

Other video from earlier in the day shows the same group first confronted Cooper while heckling him as he walked off Parliament Hill.

“You guys got to come out swinging, these guys are corrupt, these guys are traitors,” one group member named Derek Noonan is heard shouting through a megaphone.

“We got to get tougher, Michael,” Noonan shouts, singling Cooper out as he walks down from Parliament Hill.

The group later erupts into applause after Cooper approaches them on the street, but then appears to change his mind after spotting their cameras.

“Good job, Michael, but you gotta be tougher,” Noonan tells Cooper.

Cooper did not respond to multiple requests for comment from PressProgress about why he attended the event and if he condoned the group’s behaviour.

On Tuesday, the following morning, several individuals who attended the after-party with Cooper disrupted a ceremony commemorating Terry Fox at the new location of the Terry Fox monument on Ottawa’s Sparks Street.

One video, posted by a member of the group who is active on Facebook under the username “Didi Marie,” shows members of the group shouting down a speaker, yelling comments like: “Traitors,” “liars,” “corruption,” and “f–k Trudeau.”

Later in the day, other members of the convoy spinoff group got into an altercation with NDP leader Jagmeet Singh on Parliament Hill.

Video from a livestreamer shows members of the group following and heckling Singh as parliamentary security cautiously stand by. One man is heard calling Singh a “corrupted bastard.”

Singh turns around and confronts the man, asking him to repeat what he said. Despite what the video footage shows, the man denies saying anything: “It wasn’t me. It was the gentleman behind me, I guess.”

“Who is it then?” Singh challenges the man. “Point it out.”

“I have no idea,” the man replies, twirling around, unable to find anyone to point to. “I have no idea who it was, buddy.”

“You’re a coward,” Singh tells the man. “You’re not going to say it to my face.”

Waylon Sherk, a past participant in the conspiratorial “Save the Children Convoy” who was later identified as the man by another individual in the video, did not respond when contacted by PressProgress.

Video from the Monday night event at the Red Pepper shows Sherk was among those in attendance at the event when Conservative MP Michael Cooper arrived.

Sebastian Skamski, spokesperson for Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, did not respond to questions from PressProgress about Cooper’s appearance at the Red Pepper or the conduct of the group Cooper associated himself with.

Update: Two days after first being contacted by PressProgress, Conservative MP Michael Cooper issued a statement late Wednesday gently distancing himself from the far-right group mentioned in this story.

“I went to a restaurant in Ottawa to have dinner,” Cooper’s statement reads. “At the restaurant, I was recognized by a group of people who approached me and took photos.”

“I am in no way associated with these individuals and was not meeting with them.”

NDP-Liberals and their media friends are spreading lies about me.

See my statement. pic.twitter.com/P0cBlaSSyb

— Michael Cooper, MP (@MichaelCooperMP) September 18, 2024