Q&A With Dark-Horse Toronto Mayoral Candidate Faith Goldy

She’s so controversial I’ll likely get attacked just for interviewing her and publishing this article, but former Sun News Network and Rebel Media journalist and staunch right-wing commentator Faith Goldy’s Toronto mayoral run is newsworthy.

As one top media figure who used to manage a newsroom put it:

“If I had two people assigned to this election, at this point, I’d put one on Goldy and the other on everyone else, and my coverage (presuming I had the right reporter) would lead the conversation while your coverage (presuming you’re ignoring her) would not. And in a competitive news market, it’s better to be leading the conversation… She is more than a minor far-right media figure and the attention she gets here demonstrates that. Her utility to the coverage of the campaign is she’s a perfect foil for Tory. He is so damn cautious and bland. She is pointed and extreme. She picks all the scabs he wants to ignore.”

Examples include: showing up at the scene of the latest shooting to do a live Periscope report on Twitter trashing Mayor John Tory’s “weak on crime” record in scrapping TAVIS (Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy) and carding; confronting Tory while live-streaming to ask him why he’s visited mosques where imams have preached hate in the past; and publishing videos excoriating Tory’s record. She definitely has moxy in playing the roles of both candidate and journalist.

It’s only a matter of time before the media will no longer be able to ignore her campaign. Other than iPolitics and Vice (in which the piece childishly referred to her as “a shitbird” instead of by name) publishing pieces condemning her campaign and dismissing it as a publicity stunt, as well as former Sun News Network debate sparring partners J.J. McCullough (Washington Post) and Justin Ling (The Walrus) writing critical pieces, there hasn’t been any mainstream coverage, except for when it’s something manufactured to be negative. The Toronto Star published a piece this week on two unwitting police officers posing for a picture with Goldy and volunteers, suggesting it was inappropriate, but failing to mention other mayoral candidates have posed for selfies with police and firefighters in uniform. After journalists poked around to see if Goldy had committed any campaign finance violations, she clapped back by pointing out the Ontario Liberal Party appears to have broken the rules by buying Facebook ads endorsing former city planner Jennifer Keesmaat.

https://twitter.com/FaithGoldy/status/1035306045730709504

Oddly, no polls have been conducted in the past month since Goldy became an option, other than one that only included Tory and Keesmaat as options, but I know of at least one prominent pollster who will be conducting a poll soon that will include her. Despite her former boss and self-described Rebel commander Ezra Levant saying her campaign is a “Twitter vanity project” and “a joke”, it appears Goldy has volunteers (30 the night I dropped by) canvassing neighbourhoods daily and her mysterious campaign manager called in the middle of our interview to make sure she would be on time for a photo-shoot.

Then there’s the factor that Goldy is media savvy, being in the industry for the greater part of a decade, so she knows exactly how to captivate an audience and what makes for a good story. (I have a strong suspicion that the Jewish businessman who, very shortly after she entered the Starbucks where we met for the interview, asked to take a photo with Goldy, complimented her Rebel work and gave her a ringing endorsement for mayor was a plant perhaps meant to demonstrate she isn’t anti-Semitic, in spite of them both denying they knew each other when they saw my look of disbelief.) Goldy also informed me during our interview that she has some cards up her sleeve to play in the near future, including an upcoming high-profile endorsement and a story she plans to drop on her YouTube channel (with over 70,000 subscribers) that will likely have an affect on the race and make it all the more absurd if the media ignore these impending developments.

https://twitter.com/Imamofpeace/status/1032934413498167297

Although Goldy’s campaign is the longest of long shots when facing two rivals with much more experience, better track records, volunteers, and money in their war chests, Tory’s weak on crime and not-so-friendly on the taxpayer record could result in a significant portion of Ford Nation opting for her and her slogan: “Tough on crime, easy on taxpayers.” This could result in Goldy playing spoiler, handing Keesmaat the election. Making things worse for Tory, Goldy’s poise could prove to be the kiss of death for him on a debate stage, and she’ll likely poll high enough to get a spot on that stage.

The story of Goldy’s career thus far is one of a fall from grace. She was at one point a rising star in the media, writing for the National Post and doing the speaking circuit in her young twenties. But her opinions became more and more hard right as she went from contributing at the Sun News Network to joining Levant’s incendiary Rebel Media, where she hosted her own show, On The Hunt with Faith Goldy. Her radical views eventually reached a head when Goldy, without permission from Levant, went to cover the Charlottesville rally and made a guest appearance on a neo-Nazi podcast, which in large part led to Rebel Media’s reputation taking a severe hit and an exodus of many of its contributors. Levant ended up firing his “favourite employee.” (I covered much of The Rebel meltdown for CANADALAND at the time.) Despite Levant saying he hoped Goldy would make amends and return to working at The Rebel, Goldy turned down his offer.

During our pre-interview conversation she told me a coming of age story and a prototypical case of foreshadowing about when she was community service prefect at her all-girls private high school. Goldy, nearing high school graduation, made a video criticizing the school’s expenditures, and was forced to make a public apology for her perceived impertinence. When her peers started clapping after she delivered the apology, Goldy says she immediately regretted acquiescing, and promised herself she would never apologize again if she didn’t mean it. She remains defiantly proud of her coverage of Charlottesville and appearances on right-wing extremists’ shows, believing she did nothing wrong. Her person non grata status has led to the media turning a blind eye to left-wing activists shutting down her public campaign events by threatening venue owners, despite it being illegal to disrupt public gatherings of those participating in election activities, and no reporting was done back when she was assaulted and spat on by Antifa protesters, even though CBC and CTV reporters were nearby.

While the mainstream media continue to beat around the bush on Goldy’s candidacy, I figure I’ll lead the conversation and ask her the tough questions on the tip of many a journalist’s tongue. The alternative media who have granted her interviews thus far have been mostly deficient in asking the more pertinent questions, opting instead to sing her praise. Goldy told me there’s a mainstream media blackout on her campaign, and that her friends at at least two media organizations have been given orders from the top to not so much as tweet about her campaign. (This is interesting to note when considering all of Mayor John Tory’s connections to the city’s media, himself hosting a radio show for years.) Seeing one high-profile columnist deleting tweets about her and knowing she still has friends in high places, I’m inclined to believe her.

When Goldy and I met earlier this week, she was bubbly, intelligent and quick-witted, all characteristics others who know her have used to describe her. It was nevertheless surprising, though, when juxtaposed with the stoic and deadly serious attitude she presents on camera.

Below is a lightly edited interview with mayoral candidate Faith Goldy.

You said you would send all of the “illegals” to Trudeau’s front lawn, could you actually do that as mayor?

So what my policy dictates is that I would first approach mayors of nearby municipalities to see if they’re interested in our migrant populations. We do know that some of the mayors of nearby municipalities have articulated the fact that they’re actually interested in having more migrants there because their populations are on the decline. So we would happily bus them over to those mayors’ jurisdictions. Save that, I’m interested in meeting with the feds who are the architects of this erasure of our border and let them know that Toronto taxpayers are not happy about it, and Toronto’s most vulnerable are not happy about it. I say that as someone who has taken the time to go down to our shelters, to go down to our tent city, and to discuss it with the men, mostly, who are currently homeless or in our under-served shelter system. And when meeting with the feds, I would articulate the fact that Torontonians were never asked if we wanted to erase our southern border, and we were never asked if we wanted to pay for the repercussions that came thereafter. What I anticipate is that Justin Trudeau and myself will arrange an agreement that suits both of our needs so he can carry on with his reckless policy that in no way affects the Toronto taxpayer.

Okay, but I think you can expect what his answer will be, which is ‘go pound sand.’ You can’t lawfully–

Justin Trudeau has not been at a negotiating table with me before, so I can not anticipate what his answer will be until I am there.

But you don’t have the jurisdiction as mayor, they don’t have as much power, as we’ve seen with Ford cutting council unilaterally.

And yet they continue to make noise. At the end of the day, there are several jurisdiction in Canada, and if Justin Trudeau wants to continue to import en masse an illegal invasion into our country when I become mayor it will not be within Toronto’s borders.

Why don’t you have a bio on your campaign website? That’s something a lot of people have noticed.

This campaign isn’t about me. It’s about ideas that are shared among many Torontonians. This is not a vanity project, this is not me at the centre. It’s my platform.

Doesn’t whoever is going to be the next mayor–shouldn’t they be vetted? Shouldn’t people look at their record? The experience that they have to bring to the table?

My record is the past ten years of my life I’ve spent articulating my ideas about Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and the world online. So, folks are free to search for themselves. But if it’s so important I’m happy to include one, I honestly didn’t think about it because my platform is what’s most important to this run, not my personality.

So you obviously think you’re qualified, could you just elaborate what your experience is in a managerial role? Because it’s a big job.

I find it a bit rich that the same people who cheered for the election of a substitute drama teacher and snowboard instructor managing the Canadian economy, all of our geopolitical interests, and our domestic affairs are now taking issue with my own background with respect to managerial roles. I have managed my own small business before. I have been very self-motivated when working with others and working for others. At the end of the day, being a mayor does not mean I’m an island unto myself. I will have a team under me. And I see the role as being the voice of Torontonians. And right now Torontonians have been underserved by the professional political class that currently govern our city. And that’s not just the mayor, that’s many councillors as well who treat Toronto taxpayer dollars as their personal piggy banks for their own vanity projects. So my experience is not just being for the people, but of the people, every day of my life. Being born in the city, raised in the city, and I think my platform is a testament to that, that I’m acutely aware to the needs of Torontonians and I’m going to be a strong advocate for them in the role of mayor.

What experience do you have in politics, other than covering it?

I’ve worked in four different political campaigns in various capacities. I’ve studied it all of my life. It is a sleazy sport, and I make the joke that ‘you know, the only thing I can think of that is lower than media is politics.’ I think this era of professional politicians is quickly coming to an end. People don’t want professional politicians leading the country anymore or leading the city anymore. They want real people who will be their voice in government. I think that political experience be damned. And you’re seeing that time and time again. People want good advocates, not professional politicians… I think we’re overthinking this whole thing. No one is asking the Mayor of Toronto to bring peace to the Middle East or solve so-called climate change. All the people of Toronto want is someone who will keep our neighbourhoods safe, fix our roads, and not waste our hard earned cash. This isn’t rocket science.

Okay. Does it bother you how multicultural Toronto is?

No, not whatsoever.

Okay, because in the past your own views of multiculturalism is that it’s a failure and it’s kind of ruined the Western world in a way, so could you just address that?

The capital L Liberal multiculturalism social experiment that we’ve seen play out in Canada has not led to true multiculturalism which is a hybrid society of many people intermingling and enriching each other’s lives. What we see are camps of self-quarantine, a honeycomb society in a rather balkanized fashion. And that has been the focus of any of my critique of multiculturalism. It’s that our politicians underscore our differences, and in doing so, have lost sight of what brings us together. And I think unity should be our strength in this city.

And what does that unity look like to you then?

Folks united around the same end goals, which are: safer streets, more respect for taxpayers, less congestion, better roads, and really a Toronto first mentality, where we look after our own before becoming the boarding house and shelter of the world.

Less than half of Toronto is made up of white people. Would you like to see that reversed?

My policies apply to every single Torontonian no matter their background. I’ve been in the various ethnic communities. Chinese Torontonians want safer streets. Black Torontonians want safer streets. Eastern European Torontonians want safer streets. Everyone that I have spoken to can get behind my platform. It is not targeting one ethnic demographic. It is just targeting Torontonians. And that has been obvious in the positive response we have received from all backgrounds.

So the people who have crossed the border illegally, you would call them illegals, right? Why do you choose to use that term?

Because they’re breaking the law by coming into our country and in effect taking advantage of what is a very generous system. I was the first journalist to break the story of the illegal entry way into our country at Roxham Road. And when I first did, the same mainstream media that refusing to cover me right now called me every evil and unimaginable thing under the sun. Now, what do you know, it’s a national news story. If you talk to Canadians, Torontonians, of old stock and new Canadian varieties, they will all tell you, ‘our ancestors waited in line’ or ‘we waited in line.’ ‘We work 40, 50 per cent of the year for the taxman. Why should these people be given things that we have to wait in line to receive the second they illegally cross into our border?’ So I call them illegal migrants because they are just that.

And what would you say to people who say you are dog whistling in some way? There is a group of the electorate that would interpret what you say as you being an ethno-nationalist or white nationalist, wanting to preserve white identity [in this country].

I would urge those people to go talk to Black Canadians, to Chinese Canadians, to Eastern European Canadians. Because they will see that my message of no more illegal immigration to this country resonates actually with new Canadians even more so than old stock Canadians… If I was just to run on the evacuation of just illegals from our shelter system, I would win over most ethnic minorities in this city because they feel personally slighted by this reckless policy because they spent a tremendous amount of time, years, thousands of dollars to legally cross into this country and our paying into a system that is helping to support people en masse who broke the laws to enter into this country.

Why do you think there is a media blackout on your campaign?

Because the mainstream media learned with Trump and with Doug Ford that if you give populist messages any oxygen they spread like wildfire. They know just how potent my campaign messaging is, so they don’t want to afford me a platform.

Do you think Ezra threw you under the bus last year?

I will always support the Rebel Media. I think that they do important work and to this day remain the unofficial opposition in this country.

What do you think of them not covering your campaign at all?

I’m available for an interview any time they want me to come sit down with them.

So why do you think they wouldn’t if they’re the vanguard of alternative media in Canada?

You’d have to ask Ezra.

Have you talked to him about it at all? I’m just curious because your whole campaign is something I think that the Rebel and its supporters would really get behind.

I know I have a tremendous amount of Rebel audience support behind my campaign because they have personally reached out to me and told me as much. And these are the same people who have witnessed my career from even before Rebel days. And so I’m tremendously thankful for their support and I look forward to being interviewed by Ezra or someone else of the Rebel Media team in the near future.

What are your friends in the media telling you about the embargo or why they won’t have you on their shows?

Without revealing my sources, I understand that there is, for at least certain media organizations, a top-down order that has been given that journalists at the front lines, regardless of where they stand politically, are not so much as supposed to tweet about me, retweet me, include me in any polls, cover any aspect of my campaign. That should be incredibly troubling to every taxpayer in this city who has invested interest in this municipal election and to every consumer of media.

How do you plan to fix transportation in Toronto?

Yeah, so basically more subways. Doug Ford has been talking about this issue for about a decade on the record and I would like to work with Doug Ford to help get the subways built in this city, and I’d like to solicit funds from Ottawa in order to do so. Ottawa talks a big game about being the greenest government in recent Canadian history. And if you ask me, the way to get people out of their cars is not just building bike lanes because of course we’re under a blanket of snow for about six months out of the year. The best way to get people out of their cars is to build more subways and to make subways a more realistic alternative for more people in this very congested city. So–

What about in the interim when construction is being done to build the new subway lines. Just look at Eglinton.

Right, we need better city planning. Unfortunately now, and some of my opposition, as chief city planner the past five years, really botched this file. Because you see all the folks working on the north and south routes at the same time, all the east and west routes at the same time. We need better city planning to make sure people can still get around all the places that are in need of construction. And when there are different types of construction happening we need to ensure that we keep the roads at a certain level of integrity while the construction is going on. By this I mean the potholes are crazy. There a sinkholes on our roads right now. So part of what I want to do on that file as well is integrate better standards for the asphalt we are now using. I suspect that we are cutting corners and this is why we see the same potholes… There’s no more hosing the taxpayer for city contracts. If they’re not doing their job properly then they’re going to be off our docket.

Okay. Do you expect to get a spot in the debates?

Yes, absolutely.

So you told me earlier you need five per cent. Is that across the board for all of the debates

The media has manufactured this five per cent number.

Where was that?

I know John Moore said talk to me when she gets to five per cent. I know a few other people said at five per cent you’ll be included. If you look at past history in our city, Rocco Rossi and Sarah Thomson won less than one per cent of the total vote and they were still afforded all of the debate time as the leading candidates… So if the media wants to manufacture this five per cent number, I don’t believe it’s written anywhere in the rules, so be it. I imagine that I will be polling well above that. I would like to share a debate stage with John Tory and Jennifer Keesmaat because I know I’d be able to hold my own. And I think that anyone watching would rather enjoy the no-nonsense attitude of non-politico speak that I would take at the podium in comparison to my challengers.

How much money have you raised for your campaign so far? Can you give me a ballpark?

Not enough, we need more. Unlike my challengers, who already have a million dollars in the bank each because of their fancy-pants champagne socialist friends, who are interested in protecting their own special interest groups once these people are theoretically elected. Joe sixpack has been offering five, ten, twenty bucks a pop. And our feat–we have a bigger challenge ahead of us because the mainstream media is in effect creating a firewall around us. So we have to fund tactics that get our names out there, including phone calls and mass literature distribution that perhaps is not of such import to my competition.

Okay, but you did put out that fundraising video. Did you see donations come in?

Yes.

What kind of money are we talking about? Can you give me any idea on that, no? I’ll take it not a whole lot yet. Okay. What are you doing to ensure you won’t violate campaign finance laws?

Well, right now, obviously I have a large international audience and when people ask me if they can donate–

That’s why I figured it was a relevant question.

No, I understand that. So we have the campaign donation rules very clearly articulated on our website. We are in constant email contact with would-be donors, and to date we have only had folks from within Ontario donate to our campaign.

Okay. You haven’t seen a single person outside of–

People have been very responsible. They said ‘hey, I live here, can I donate?’ and we say ‘regrettably no, but thank you so very much for trying to support our campaign… You have to have a valid Ontario address in order to be able to donate.’

You get a lot of engagement on social media. How much of that engagement do you think is legitimate engagement within Toronto? Because a lot of it is from your following around the world, right?

Right, of course. Well I know right now, our website is massively outperforming John Tory’s when it comes to hits and original unique visits. You can break that down international versus Canada, and you see even when you take the majority of my hits, which are Canadian, we outflank John Tory by a huge margin. So, this is Toronto municipal politics, are people in Texas or London really that excited or retweeting all my videos that are very nuanced and cater to a Toronto audience? Perhaps there are a few.

How many people are on your campaign team and do they have any experience being in a war room? Can you give me any names?

I can tell you that we have an inner core of all the political positions you would expect of any typical campaign are filled. And with no exceptions all of them are veterans in political campaigns, in political war rooms and politics full stop. With respect to names, no, I’ll tell you why. Because in August a tremendous amount of my team suffered personal threatening calls from political apparatchiks at various levels of government, so I don’t want to expose my campaign team to anymore risk.

Do you think that’s a problem then, that a lot of people will support you privately but not publicly?

It all comes down to e-day. At the end of the day, whether people — we’ve seen a silent majority rise up and it’s been doing so in greater frequency and instances in recent history. And so whether people are public about it, shouting it from the rooftops as some have, or whether voting, as it is for many, is a private matter, folks will go about it in their own way. But I welcome them to visit our website FaithForToronto.ca, I welcome any support in any manner that people feel comfortable with.

How do you plan to break the media embargo against you?

My plan is to steamroll ahead. And if the media wants in on what is a fantastic campaign with a flawless platform, then they’re welcome to the party. My door is open to them always. As you can tell, if you ask me for an interview I’ll sit down. If you’re looking for comment, I will write back, as we saw again today with the Toronto Star. I’m willing to engage in any degree that they’ll have me, but at the end of the day, the media are a minority when it comes to their votes. I’m interested in the Toronto taxpayer and that’s why we’re outside canvassing every day, that’s why we’re placing phone calls, that’s why we’re distributing literature inside the homes of average Torontonians. We are breaking through the firewall, and like I said, if the media want to do their jobs, and to cover a municipal race, including the candidates that are the frontrunners, let’s be honest, then I welcome it. But I’m not tailoring my campaign to the media that seem disinterested in the interests of average Torontonians.

Do you feel like you are already behind the eight ball though? Because I remember reading [Rob Ford’s former political campaign manager and chief of staff] Mark Towhey’s book on the Rob Ford campaign and first few years as mayor. They started a year before, that’s typically when you start your campaigning, so do you feel like you are already behind or you have a lot of catching up to do?

Just because a person has been campaigning doesn’t mean that the city is paying attention. So maybe they have more money in the bank. Maybe they have more fancy-pant political apparatchiks under their belt, but that doesn’t mean that their ideas are good or that people resonate with what they’re saying. So I feel so strongly that our message is so spot on that I feel ahead of the game to be honest.

How do you think you’ll place if you are included in a poll?

I won’t know unless they do it. I don’t have any magic wand. We’re not polling right now because we have to put our money elsewhere.

Okay, can you give me a guesstimate of where you think you will poll?

No.

Why did you single out Islamic extremism in your policy proposal of doing extremist audits? Is that the main area of extremism in the city?

Part of my no-nonsense platform is that I’ll be putting public safety above political correctness. There are uncomfortable conversations as a city that we need to have. And part of those conversations includes the facts that there are mosques we know in this city that are preaching not just hate, but violence and indeed genocidal violence against all unbelievers. What I would like to do as mayor is deal with this head on. Because, while I support freedom of religion, as a religious person myself, I do not support genocidal calls from any institution. And so as mayor, what we’re going to do, is essentially have an extremist audit of these known locations, and they will not be granted municipal permits, any religious institution, that’s found to be preaching violence against an identifiable group.

So you need other city councillors behind you, if you were to win the mayoral race, to re-enact things like TAVIS and carding, how will you do that if you don’t have the support of other city councillors?

Well I think you’d be surprised to know that there are actually a few city councillors already in office who have expressed a tremendous amount of support for my tough on crime proposed legislation and I think that there are those who also understand that the vote to ban things like carding in the city — only Rob Ford supported a continuation of this policy — I think there are councillors who realize that this was a grave error. And look no further than our murder rates, now higher than New York City’s, our gun crime rates, almost doubling in less than a year, to understand that something is very wrong and that all options should be on the table. And so it will be up to me to present a fact-based argument as to why carding ought to be reinstated in this city. And I know that I will have the support of the good men and women within our police force because I have been talking to many of them off the record and they all want to see it brought back because they know what kind of tools they need in order to make our streets safe again and that’s exactly what we are going to do. I’m not interested in playing politics as mayor, I’m interested in cleaning up this city and making it safe. So any sort of councillor who is looking to do their job, which is to defend the interests of their given ward, will be on board.

So [a former friend of yours], Johnathan Van Maren, wrote an article about you [and your appearances doing interviews with some far-right podcasts in the last year]. He came to the determination that you’re a white nationalist and flirt with the Alt Right… Some of the hosts of those shows I would say hold some pretty abhorrent views. They’re antisemitic, racist, or what have you. So I know that you say that there shouldn’t be this guilt by association or just appearing on someone’s show, but the frequency that you seem to go on these alternative outlets has led people to believe that these are your views, that you hold them yourself, right, so–

Look, I’ve been a journalist and commentator for the past ten years of my life. It’s part of my job to interview and be interviewed. I would go on an Antifa podcast if they’d have me on. I’ve been on Israel’s Channel News Two more times than I can count. I will talk to anyone who will hear me. I will interview anyone who is worthy of a story. And this is the exact commitment to transparency that I will bring into office with me. There is no one who is too deplorable if you will for me to talk to. I’m interested in engaging in debate. I know that we now live in a politically correct society where free speech and critical thinking is banned, but my mouth still works, my brain still works, and I’m very interested in using it with anyone who will tango frankly. And so–

Okay, well you’ve also used the Alt-Right language a lot. I’ve been listening to a lot of Alt-Right media [in my research] and they use terms like ‘black pill’, and I’ve seen you use the same lingo as them,

[Laughs]

So why do you use the same–

There are many patriotic boomers who don’t listen to any of the same podcasts who use many of the same terms.

So are they very ambiguous terms. They mean different things to different people?

I think so, I mean what does to be red-pilled mean? It depends who you talk to.

Well the Alt-Right definition would be that Jews run everything, right, isn’t that–

That’s not my understanding of it. My understanding of it is basically you’re taken out of this Matrix, out of false reality, where political correctness and extreme globalism, etcetera, is the name of the game. So, I think that those are very, very subjective terms, and if you talk to just about any based conservative, regardless of their background, regardless of their age group, in the city, many throw around jargon like to be red-pilled and things like that.

Okay, so does that extend to the term Alt Right itself then?

I had never identified as Alt-Right. Again, I think it means different things to different people. I think its day has come and gone. And anyone who chooses to affix themself to that label is severely misguided frankly.

Do you still believe there is a white genocide taking place then?

Do you want to know something interesting? I have never used the term white genocide to discuss any sort of trend or single event anywhere–

Okay, maybe Jonathon Van Maren’s reporting wasn’t accurate. He said that you did videos on that. So you just talked about demographics of the white populations then?

Yes, I’ve never used the term white genocide anywhere to prove any point. And this is a propagated myth that has been manufactured in some paper and now it has caught on. I’ve never used those terms together anywhere in the media.

Before you’ve said things like, ‘I believe in European-Canadian identity, not multiculturalism.’ Are you promoting white identity politics in a way? Because you self-identify and you [genetically] tested your ethnic background. I think you were on the one podcast where you brought up [after being questioned] that you don’t have any Jewish blood–I don’t know why they asked that question. So some people would take these things as you being Alt Right.

You know, I am tremendously popular within Toronto’s Jewish community and within the international Jewish community. I’m on the record in support of the one-state solution. Perhaps my most viewed video was in defence of the one-state solution. I love Israel’s borders, I love their border wall, I think Bibi is a fantastic leader and I wish there were more world leaders like him. I love the Jewish people and support the Jewish state of Israel. I wish we could actually bear many of their policies on a national level. Toronto Jews get this and that’s why they like my campaign. And so all of this manufactured media mythology around me is just that, a myth.

Okay, but you said you don’t believe in multiculturalism.

Liberal multiculturalism. Look, European-Canadian identity–it’s Canadian history. We were a nation that was founded by pioneers and settlers of British and French and, yes, native stock. So at a time when you’re seeing the erasure of our shared national symbols such as Sir John A. MacDonald’s statue out west, Edward Cornwallis out east, the erasure of our two war-time prime ministers from our banknotes, I think that there is a growing anxiety, again, among oldstock and new Canadians alike that those things that bind us together, and part of that is our common heritage, our mythology, our foundational myths, etcetera, is being erased from us in the name of Liberal multiculturalism. People don’t like it. It’s just a very local minority that are for this crazy rewriting of history. And so I stand with Canadian history and I’m unafraid to say it.

Okay, back to your campaign. So you did canvassing yesterday, I wasn’t aware, have you been doing canvassing before that?

Yeah.

How active are you? What is your daily schedule?

We’re doing it almost every day. Unless my editing and event attending gets in the way. But others are on the case. So I myself am doing it almost every day, but others are on it every day.

Can you talk a bit about how when you try to book events they’re getting cancelled?

Well the Alt Left, which includes Antifa and other hate organizations, to their credit are very well organized. And so any time when I have a public announcement about a pub night, a meeting location, etcetera, these people will harass, terrorize and intimidate our hosts, who frankly have nothing to do with our campaign besides affording us space that we are looking to pay to use. And so it has become in a way frustrating because part of campaigns is meeting the constituents in an organized fashion. Going to doors and arriving at an ad hoc basis is one thing, but say ‘hey, everyone who supports us, come out to this place and let’s talk about common sense policy over a pint, those options are not available to our campaign specifically and it is tremendously strange that the mainstream media doesn’t find this newsworthy. If John Tory or Jennifer Keesmaat were barred from having public events because right-wing groups were calling and placing intimidating phone calls and bullying establishments into basically cancelling, I think there would be a tremendous amount of coverage around it. But for some reason, they aren’t covering what’s happening to us.

Okay, can you speak about threats to your own safety? Could you maybe elaborate on the threats that you face? And do you have security then?

I’d rather not say whether or not I have security to be honest… Look, I’m not worried about my safety when I’m going to the doors because the response has been so overwhelmingly positive and average Torontonians are rallying around our message. Am I worried about an increasingly violent Alt-Left? Anyone in their right mind who reads the papers is… Ours is the only campaign without a campaign office. Not because we don’t want one but because we quite seriously cannot have one. The Alt-Left has physically attacked me, threatened my family, harassed my Church, and shut down every campaign event we’ve organized so far by intimidating our vendors. It’s unprecedented in the Canadian political scene, but it’s also sort of hilarious juxtaposing Antifa’s approach with the response we get at the doors and on the streets. The people love us, they love our message. When it comes down to it: I’d rather be Antifa’s sworn enemy than they’re ally. They’re spoiled babies turned into unwashed criminals, far-left political thugs.

The whole Charlottesville incident, that’s kind of what did you in, or you lost your job at The Rebel, and publicly at least you’ve kind of become a pariah in the media scene. So I guess my question is: do you have any regrets about what happened?

My regret is that the mainstream media can’t tell the difference between a reporter and a participant in a march. I went there to–

I guess the criticism that they would have is that your coverage seemed to be one-sided towards criticizing Antifa. I guess your rationale is that [the white nationalists] had lawfully planned to do this demonstration, but the way in which you were covering it seemed that you had sympathies with the white nationalists.

That’s their perception. And, at the end of the day, I think that the average Torontonian is not afraid of Nazis marching in their streets. They’re afraid of their kids being affected by a drive-by shooting at a park as we’ve seen recently. They’re afraid of their kids stumbling across needles in a park as we’ve seen in recent weeks. And so this big bad boogie man that the mainstream media is obsessed with is just completely out of touch with the interests of the average Toronto taxpayer. And so they can continue to go on with these obsessions in their own heads, but at the end of the day they are not making a compelling argument. I was there as a reporter and their wires crossed in their own heads.

But even people like Jordan Peterson had criticism for you. Okay, so you’re saying that in your coverage you didn’t see it as being sympathetic to them, but on top of that you’ve frequented a lot of these alt-media shows of people who self-identify as Alt Right.

On the day of Charlottesville, I was interviewed by Israel’s Channel 2 News. Am I a Zionist? This business of guilt by association is becoming really, really tiresome to be honest.

Well I guess Peterson’s specific criticism was when you were on the shows you don’t challenge their views.

They didn’t present their views to me. I was a guest, I was not the host, you know? If they presented a particularly troubling view to me I would’ve dealt with it on an ad hoc basis. I had never heard of this radio or podcast program before, I was completely unfamiliar with their views before or after, I had never listened to one of their broadcasts, and so I don’t take any personal responsibility over challenging that which I wasn’t exposed to.

You did a recent video criticizing Tory for going to mosques for having–I think they were guest imams that preach hate–so why is he guilty by association then if you’re not?

Because he knew what this mosque was all about. In 2017, he was warned after his last couple appearances there that this group had called for unbelievers to be slayed one by one. He knew about the antisemitic record there and yet he went back to campaign in an anti-semitic, anti-nonbeliever mosque that preaches genocidal–

You think at that mosque that’s generally the views of most of Muslims that go there?

It’s the views of the imams who prayed these grotesque things within the mosque. And we’ve got it on video record.

Why do you have an apparent fascination with the extreme right?

When I say that I’m interested in engaging in all parts of the political spectrum, I mean it quite earnestly. You have to be completely tone deaf not to see that there is a rising movement of young men who feel disenfranchised in society, who feel that they have been portrayed as the boogie man for all sorts of social ills that they had nothing to do with. On top of that, there interests are not being defended or advocated for in the workplace. It would seem that they are surrounded by special interests and special rights for everyone but themselves. Part of me engaging with the harder elements of the right is specifically to keep them away from the gutter. Because by engaging with them, 75 per cent or 80 per cent of the legitimate grievances they may have, perhaps that will keep them away from festering, away from the gutter.

Well, what do you mean by the gutter then? Being in the Alt Right?

All of the unsavoury sort of optics we’ve seen portrayed on CNN and the like, you know, history–

Well there is some truth to it, right, with the portrayal of the subculture of the Alt Right. They do use the n-word constantly, from what I’ve seen–

Not in my presence. Not in my presence. I think that several of them just want to be taken seriously. And the more seriously–

Well they won’t be taken seriously if they’re using the n-word–

I agree with you.

Or saying the Jews control everything, and death to all Jews, calling for a second holocaust.

I agree with you. I’m not interested in engaging with them on those levels. What I’m interested in doing is hearing their legitimate grievances and let’s deal with this. There’s no need larp [(live action role play)] and go on the fringe and act out. Let’s treat you like the adults you are, let’s make an itemized list of your grievances and go through them one by one and see how we can in a practical and social and politically appropriate way deal with them so you don’t feel like you need to be marginalized and fester in the gutters.

So you confronted John Tory before at the Danforth memorial when it was being taken down. So this is kind of unprecedented–

I think it’s newsworthy, I think it’s a talker [laughing].

Are you planning to do a lot more of that then?

No, not necessarily, it depends. I mean if other journalists don’t want to ask the tough questions I’m perfectly capable of multitasking and switching between my journalist and mayoral hats. Because as both a journalist and a mayoral candidate, not to mention a Toronto taxpayer, I’m interested in the questionable events, affiliations our hopefully outgoing mayor might have. So again, if the media don’t want to do it then I’ll do it and I’ll be sure to expose that–to not just my audience, but to my future voters as well.

After the interview I posed a couple of follow-up questions to Goldy via text message after reviewing the transcript and Keesmaat released her transit plan. 

What do you think of Jennifer Keesmaat’s transit plan?

The province is writing us a blank cheque on subways and she wants more LRTs and to make the disastrous King St Pilot permanent? Talk about tone deaf! We finally have a premier who has spent the better part of his public life fighting for more subways. All of his caucus feels likewise. They’re ready to smash open the provincial piggy bank for subways — why talk about LRTs? Get on board and get the funding we need! Otherwise Toronto is looking at more taxes for yet another vanity project.

You said you didn’t use the term white genocide, but in a Rebel Media video you use it, so could you address it?

Holy smokes! I honestly forgot about that piece, it was so long ago. I was right to address the topic there: It’s an outrage that more commentators didn’t do likewise. Taxpayers hand the CBC over $1 billion a year. Public money was used to produce an objectively racist video hailing “beige power” and the extinction of different races as “we’re all going to look the same by the year 3000”. This is the same corporation that’s released job adverts which read “any race but Caucasian” can apply. Racial discrimination is against the law in this nation and the state broadcaster is not above that law. The media make it seem like I’m obsessed with the topic. If the best they can do is find one little video from 2016 in which I’m commenting on a vile CBC piece as the totality of their argument, it goes to show you how batty my opposition really is.

Can you at least give me the name of your campaign manager, it’s odd you can’t give me any names, what would you say if Tory did the same?

This August civic holiday long week, we lost half our campaign team owing to intimidating calls from political establishment and the Alt Left alike. Outside of his accomplished life in politics, my campaign manager is a family man with children. For the sake of his family’s safety and sanity, he wishes to remain in the wings.