Toronto Mayoral Candidate Denounced ‘migrants with high birthrates’

The proclaimed “outsider” candidate in Toronto’s municipal election, Anthony Furey, has received a slight increase in poll numbers and media attention, including an uncritical series of articles that fail to mention his expressed opposition to “migrants with high birthrates.”

Over the past few weeks, Furey has risen from 0% in the polls to 9%, pushing some pundits to ask if he will be an “outsider,” candidate to rival the current front-runners. 

According to CityNews, with a “no-nonsense right-wing approach,” Furey has been vocal about his plans to dismantle the city’s harm reduction programs and force the city’s homeless people out of parks.  

As a columnist, Furey has long pushed for new laws to “curb panhandling,” and crack down on drug users.

But, so far, his views on immigration have gone largely unmentioned.

In a 2016 syndicated column, titled, Identity politics ‘is now pushing us further apart,’ the Toronto Sun, Postmedia and True North writer reflected on Brexit and Donald Trump’s tenure as US president. Both, he wrote, are in part a reaction to the supposed problem of “frothing lunatics in the social justice blogosphere.”

“This is the problem we’re seeing all over. The battle over Brexit. The ferocious passions held both for and against Trump. Even the warring responses to the nihilistic mass murder by an Islamist in Orlando. What do they have in common? They’re all filling a vacuum that was created by the rise of moral relativism in the West.”

Accordingly, Furey lamented a “decline,” among western nations – seen as well, he claimed, in policies he says facilitate the entry of immigrants into Europe. “Europe as we know it over, he wrote,” as “migrants,” with “high birthrates,” pour in.

“Canada won’t go tough on ISIS, but our human rights courts go tough on comedians who make crude jokes. The list goes on. These are not the pursuits of a serious nation, but one in decline. The world is changing. The American Century is over. Europe as we know it is over, as migrants with high birthrates pour in with little strategy in place to integrate them.”

Furey did not respond to requests for comment, asking to clarify what he meant by this paragraph and if he stands by it.

But, as Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting notes, conversations around birthrates a common far-right talking point.

For True North and the Sun, Furey has also written numerous articles calling for new border restrictions. 

In one, he denounced the Liberal party’s supposed “Social Justice Warrior inclination towards open borders” and in another he called for Canada to “build a wall at Roxham Road.”