Here are PC candidate Andrew Lawton’s worst moments (so far)
Among other things, Doug Ford’s handpicked candidate made anti-abortion comments, railed against “feminazis”, and denounced the hoisting of the Pride Flag at London City Hall
The writ has yet to drop but London West PC candidate Andrew Lawton is already off to quite a start in Ontario’s provincial election.
As first reported by PressProgress last month, Lawton – who was handpicked by Ontario PC leader Doug Ford – previously hosted a podcast on Ezra Levant’s alt-right Rebel Media between 2015 and 2017 on which he railed against “the pussification of the West”, called climate change science “a lot of nonsense”, and suggested that German women “deserve” to be sexually assaulted because of their country’s refugee policies.
Since then, PressProgress has been compiling and unearthing further material from Lawton’s past as a fringe, hard right activist, blogger, and host.
Here’s a quick survey of his handiwork as it’s emerged so far.
Commemorating a book by a far-right Islamophobe
In 2016, Lawton wrote an op-ed for the Toronto Sun commemorating the anniversary of Mark Steyn’s controversial “America Alone”, a book which forecast the impending death of western civilization due to, among other things, what it characterized as a demographic threat posed by the birth rates in Muslim-majority countries.
This part of its thesis is approvingly cited by Lawton, who praises the book’s “intellectual heft” and “humour.”
For those unfamiliar with “America Alone”, here’s an excerpt:
“Why did Bosnia collapse into the worst slaughter in Europe since World War Two? In the thirty years before the meltdown, Bosnian Serbs had declined from 43 percent to 31 percent of the population, while Bosnian Muslims had increased from 26 percent to 44 percent. In a democratic age, you can’t buck demography except through civil war. The Serbs figured that out as other Continentals will in the years ahead: if you can’t outbreed the enemy, cull ’em. The problem that Europe faces is that Bosnia’s demographic profile is now the model for the entire continent.”
Steyn had previously appeared on Lawton’s Rebel Media show.
Apparently criticizing the appearance of the Pride Flag at London City Hall:
A letter to the editor published on page A11 of the July 19th, 2007 edition of the London Free Press and attributed to Andrew Lawton questioned the practice of raising the Pride Flag at City Hall, suggesting it should not fly alongside the Maple Leaf “once a symbol of tradition and pride.”:
“Regarding the Gay Pride flag being hung from city hall: What has London come to when a flag symbolic of a group representing only five per cent of the population deserves to be hung alongside the Canadian flag — once a symbol of tradition and pride? I support equality among people of all orientations, but I do not think the face of city hall deserves to be tarnished so.”
Calling for the abortion debate to be reopened and arguing that women who have abortions are “robbing” fathers
Several of Lawton’s old articles appear on the now defunct blog The Landmark Report (for which he was Editor-in-Chief) and are viewable in cached form using the WayBack Machine.
In one, date unclear, Lawton takes issue with those who frame the issue of abortion as a woman’s issue:
“Abortion affects women, but it also affects men. No one can deny that a pregnant woman who chooses to give birth will change two lives forever and create a third. A woman who has an abortion is robbing that child’s father, without question.”
He concludes by calling for a reopening of the abortion debate in Canada:
“If the Left is so confident in their view on abortion, they shouldn’t be afraid of a long-overdue debate on just how available and unrestricted abortion should be.”
Calling the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women a “Fake Holiday” Promoted by “Feminazis”
As recently reported by North99, Lawton appears to have been involved with another blog called Right Wing Canada:
“The blog ran a slew of controversial articles, including one which called the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women (a day of remembrance for 14 women killed at École Polytechnique) a “fake holiday” referring to women who participate in the event as “feminazis.”
Here’s an excerpt from the post in question, dated December 2nd 2009:
“Coming up soon is Canada’s annual faux-day of remembrance (no I wasn’t talking about Kwanzaa when I said “fake holiday,” the “National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women.” This is the day that remembers the brutal shooting at Polytechnique school in Quebec on December 6th, 1989 — 20 years ago. Observance of this day raises the age-old question of what days we should observe and what should be kept in the history books. All of the victims were women, meaning that this day of remembrance is a prime opportunity for feminazis to accuse anyone who doesn’t take the day off work and hold a candlelight vigil of being anti-woman.”
Later in the same post, its author writes:
“I have no apologies for questioning this day, because I think that this ignores every other victim of a shooting or rape that has happened in history. Every week it seems that there is another high profile murder or rape in North America. Should we hold a national day for every one of these victims? No.”
Getting suspended from AM980 for a homophobic Facebook post
As also reported by North99, Lawton was suspended from the radio station that employed him in 2015 for a post about the spread of HIV/AIDS in Canada.
The post in question referred to a poll from a local organization called Emerging Leaders which found LGBTQ citizens in London were concerned about the issue of homophobia.
Reacting to this finding, Lawton responded as follows:
“Emerging Leaders used a push poll to try to paint Londoners as intolerant of the LGBTQ community. Number of sexual-orientation motivated hate crimes in Canada per year: 185. Number of HIV/AIDS infections from men having sex with men in Canada per year: 1450. Who is the real enemy?”
Organizing an event for Ann Coulter and interviewing her on his show
As reported by PressProgress last week, Lawton previously hosted a show called Strictly Right whose guests included hard right figures like Ben Shapiro and Ann Coulter.
During his interview with Coulter, for whom he also helped organize an event at the University of Western Ontario, the controversial right wing author can be heard complaining: “We lost retarded last week but we got negro back,” adding roughly 20 seconds later, “It’s sad to see retard go but at least we have negro,” to which the host laughs and agrees: “Yeah, exactly.”
Remember: Doug Ford handpicked this guy.
Images: Vimeo, Avaaz.org
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