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When ric Duhaime took over as leader of the Quebec Conservatives last year, the party had never held a seat in the legislature, never been invited to a major debate and never raised more than $60,000 in donations in any given year.

It was, basically, a fringe party,unaffiliated with the federal Conservatives and considered too libertarian for most Quebec voters since it was formed in 2009.

In the last 15 months, though, Duhaime's party has wrangled a seat in the legislatureand started polling near 20 per cent. It has racked up nearly $500,000 in donations this year alone.

Duhaime, a former shock-jock radio host, was an early critic of Quebec'spublic health restrictions. As leader, he has continued to downplay the severity of the pandemic and the need for safety measures.

Now, as a fall election nears, he is welcoming into the party a slew of candidates who appear to be even more radical in their opposition to medical expertise and reigning democratic norms.

Of the first 54 candidates the party has announced, nearly 30 per cent have used their social media accounts during the pandemic to amplify medical misinformation, conspiracy theorists or to engage with far-right extremists, a CBC News investigation has found.

The surge in popularity for Duhaime's party comes as conservative libertarians across the country, at both the provincial and federal levels, are feeling emboldened by frustrations at pandemic restrictions.

Recent polling suggestsanti-mandate libertarians, at both the federal and provincial levels, are attracting support of Canadians who are distrustful not just of government regulations,but of scientific authorities, mainstream media outlets and democratic institutions in general.

James Johnson, a former advisor to Alberta's best-known libertarian politicians, calls it the "freedom backlash."

On a recent Friday afternoon, Jean and Paula Ppin lingered at a restaurant in Joliette, Que., about 90 kilometres northeast of Montreal, for the chance to speak with Duhaime.

They had driven an hour to attend a rally where the party leader introduced six new Conservative candidates for the October election.

"We weren't interested in politics before, but with everything that's happened we wanted to get involved with the Conservatives," said Paula Ppin, 61.

"I call it the plandemic. It's not a pandemic. It was prepared beforehand," she added, referring to a conspiracy theory that maintains a shadowy circle of elites deliberately arranged the pandemic in order to grab more power.

Conspiracy theorists form a significant part of the Quebec Conservative's support.

A recent study, based on polling data, found that 50 per cent of the party's supporters were either "convinced" or "moderate" adherents of conspiracy theories.

Among Quebec Liberal supporters, 31 per cent were classified as conspiracy theorists and so were 29 per cent of Parti Qubcois supporters.

The study was conducted by researchersaffiliated with the UNESCO chair in the prevention of radicalization, housed at the University of Sherbrooke, and examined how the pandemic has influenced conspiracy theory movements in Quebec.

Duhaime denies deliberately trying to attract conspiracy theorists to his party.

"In my speeches I never go there. I never talk about those things," he said in an interview with CBC News.

Duhaime's speeches usually involve promises not to re-implement pandemicrestrictions and accusations that public health officials are fear-mongering.

On social media, he defends discredited doctors in the name of free speech and occasionally circulates articles from websites known for spreading disinformation, such as National File and Becker News.

"My responsibility is to make sure that I tell the people what I believe in and to make sure that the party is not proposing any crazy things," Duhaime said.

The event in Joliette, as are most party events, was emceed by Anne Casabonne, a former television actress who has become knownfor pushing misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines.

Before deleting her original Twitter account last year, Casabonne posted dozens of tweets that expressed doubts about the effectiveness of the vaccines and exaggerated the risks of side effects.

She also pushed for the use of ivermectin, an antiparasitic agent used primarily to deworm livestock, even though health authorities warn against its use to treat COVID-19.

Several links remain on her Facebook page to a group, Reinfo Covid, a group that experts in immunology and public health say has made several misleading claimsabout the safety of vaccines in children and adults.

Casabonne will be the Conservative candidate in Iberville, a riding south of Montreal, currently held by the party's lone MNA, who is not running for re-election.

More than a dozen other candidates the party has put forward for the coming election have used their social media accounts to circulate different types of misinformation and disinformation.

Robert Daigle, running in Rouyn-Noranda-Tmiscamingue, shared links on his personal Facebook page to content by Tho Vox, Amlie Pauland Steeve L'ArtissCharland.

These Quebec-based outlets and individuals are listed as conspiracy theorists in the study published by the UNESCO chair in the prevention of radicalization.

Chantal Dauphinais, the candidate in Beauharnois, took part in an event organized by another conspiracy theorist identified in the Sherbrookestudy, Samuel Grenier.

In a video shared on her Facebook page, Dauphinais is seen helping him print, fold and distribute copies of an op-ed riddled with inaccuracies about COVID-19 that had been withdrawn from the Journal de Montral's website.

Less than a week after the event, the Conservatives announced her candidacy.

Along with sharing misinformation about vaccines on her own Facebook page, Marie-Rene Raymond, the party's candidate in Ren-Lvesque, has contributed regularly for the past year to a Facebook group called Matane, tous contre le passeport vaccinal et la fausse pandemie (Matane, everyone against the vaccine passport and the fake pandemic).

Here she has shared content from Tho Vox, Reinfo Covid and Qactus, a website inspired by QAnon, the conspiracy theory that maintains the world is run by a secret network of child-sex traffickers.

Other candidates have used their social media accounts to engage with figures on the far-right of the political spectrum.

Myriam Cournoyer, the Drummond-Bois-Francs candidate, has repeatedly retweeted a contributor to Le Harfang, a white nationalist publication in Quebec.

One of the party's star candidates, Dr. Karim Elayoubi, lauded a program hosted by Gilbert Thibodeauand broadcast by Andre Pitre,a conspiracy theoristlisted in the Sherbrooke study who isassociated with Quebec's far-right.

In the March 2021 program, the host made racist comments about Chinese people and suggested the pandemic was planned by a cabal of elites.

"Excellent show," Elayoubi said in a tweet he later deleted. It was retrieved by CBC News using the Internet's Wayback Machine.

In other since-deleted tweets, Elayoubi compliments and interacts with Alexandre Cormier-Denis, a white nationalist who advocates racist theories and disinformation about the pandemic.

Of the candidates the party had announced by July 18, CBC News tallied 16 who used their social media accounts more than once to amplify or circulate problematic informationabout COVID-19, the U.S. election and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Last week, the Quebec Conservatives ejected a candidate, Jessica Victoria-Dubuc, after local media reported she had claimed in a Facebook post that Bill Gates was organizing a pandemic of the Marburg virus and saying that she was "at war" with elites.

But even before that post, Victoria-Dubuc had repeatedly shared incorrect information about COVID-19, indicated her support for Grenier and Charland and pointed followers to a QAnon-affiliated website.

CBC News shared its research with the Conservative party, and asked what policies guide how their candidates should use social media.

The party replied that its candidates cannot use their accounts to promote hate or violence.

"We are happy to see that none of these 16 candidates crossed that line," a spokesperson said in an email.

For the majority of the Conservative party's candidates, the opposition to public health measures is based on libertarian principles rather than conspiracy theories.

"Personally, I'm triple vaxxed. I believe it's protecting me," said Louis-Charles Fortier, the Conservative candidate in the Montreal riding of Jacques-Cartier.

"But from a policy perspective, why do we need these hindrances if the vaccines are working?"

Outside of Quebec, other libertarian-minded politicians are also trying to capitalize on pandemic fatigue by holding out the promise of no more vaccine mandates and ending other health restrictions.

In Ontario, two anti-mandate parties the New Blue Party and the Ontario Party competed for votes in the last election. Keystone, anew party with a similar platform, was officially registered in Manitoba earlier this month.

In Alberta, anti-mandate libertarians Danielle Smith and Brian Jean have emerged among the early front-runners in the race to replace Jason Kenney as leader of the United Conservative Party.

But in appealing to anti-mandate sentiment, these political figures have also attracted supporters who are stridently anti-vaccine for reasons that involve conspiratorial thinking rather than political principles.

A poll by Abacus Data, released last month, found that belief in conspiracy theories was higher among Canadians who identify with the right, among supporters of the People's Party of Canada and among Pierre Poilievre supporters in the federal Conservative leadership.

Poilievre, the front-runner in the federal Conservative leadership race, drew criticism last month when he briefly marched alongside James Topp, a former soldier who has refused to be vaccinated because he doesn't believe the vaccines are safe and effective, despite scientific evidence suggesting otherwise.

Smith turned heads when she recently appeared alongside former NHLerTheo Fleury at a campaign event in Calgary. Last year, Fleury posted on Twitter that linked vaccine passports to pedophilia.

"There's some alignment with libertarians and I'll call them [vaccine] skeptics, though they do veer into conspiracy theories," said James Johnson, a former adviser to the Wildrose and the United Conservative parties.

Back in Quebec, Conservatives are sending a message that is less ambiguous.

They are asking voters, in a general election, to endorse a slew of candidates who have contributed to the conspiracy culture that has flourished during the pandemic.

"Our candidates come from different professional backgrounds and have a diversity of opinions, which reflects Quebec society," the party said in its statement to CBC News.

Continued here:
Quebec's Conservative party surges in the polls as some of its candidates spread conspiracy theories - CBC News

Revolving door record reached

After increasing year after year, a new record has been set for state employees who are required to notify of possible revolving door determinations where they left their job for a job with an employer in the private sector that does business with the state.

The Illinois Office of Executive Inspector General reports after remaining fairly consistent in the past fiscal years at about 180 determinations, the office recorded nearly 300 in the most recent fiscal year that ended June 30.

State sells Thompson Center

The state of Illinois has sold one of the states biggest office buildings. The James R. Thompson Center, considered by many as an eyesore in downtown Chicago, sold for $105 million to a real estate company that also announced a build-to-suit agreement with Google.

Viewed as operationally inefficient, state officials discussed selling the building for nearly two decades. The governor estimates the sale would save the state almost $1 billion over 30 years.

Libertarian withdraws from Secretary of State race

Libertarian Jesse White withdrew his candidacy for secretary of state Wednesday after his petition signatures were reportedly facing scrutiny.

White shares the same name as long-serving Secretary of State Jesse White, who is not seeking re-election. The Libertarian candidate has never held public office. The general election in Illinois is Nov. 8.

Illinois Manufacturers' Association wins recognition

The Illinois Manufacturers Association was recognized as the best manufacturing advocacy group in the country, winning the inaugural 2022 Leadership Award from the Conference of State Manufacturers Associations.

The IMA was recognized for efforts to build a workforce through investments in education and training, including a $7 million Manufacturing Jobs campaign aimed at attracting students, veterans and other individuals to the manufacturing sector.

Shot out windows being investigated

Police are searching for suspects after dozens of vehicles in Belleville were damaged by a pellet or BB gun.

The St. Clair County Sheriffs Office reports around 40 vehicles had one or more windows shot out. Police say it appears many of the vehicles were hit during the heavy rains that were passing through the area, which caused water damage as well.

Revolving door record reached

After increasing year after year, a new record has been set for state employees who are required to notify of possible revolving door determinations where they left their job for a job with an employer in the private sector that does business with the state.

The Illinois Office of Executive Inspector General reports after remaining fairly consistent in the past fiscal years at about 180 determinations, the office recorded nearly 300 in the most recent fiscal year that ended June 30.

See more here:
Illinois quick hits: White withdraws from race; Durbin tests positive for COVID - The Center Square

Elections volunteer Judy Moon extracts ballots from mail-in envelopes in Martinez on Oct. 31, 2020. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters.

Rich Kinney readily concedes: Making it onto Californias November election ballot is a miracle.

The 66-year-old associate pastor and former mayor of San Pablo in the Bay Area is running to unseat Democratic Assemblymember Buffy Wicks out of staunch opposition to her support for abortion rights.

What did it take for him to make the Nov. 8 ballot? Only about 60 signatures to qualify as a Republican write-in candidate for the June 7 primary, and a mere 37 votes to finish in the top two.

Wicks won 85,180.

Kinney, the only other official candidate in the Assembly District 14 primary, said the write-in process allows newcomers a chance to move forward without the challenges of fundraising against an incumbent.

Going around my district and trying to get funding was ridiculous. No one wants to give funding to a campaign thats not going to get out the gate, he told CalMatters.

While some candidates might spend millions of dollars or months campaigning, Californias top-two primary system means that in races with only one other candidate, its possible for a write-in candidate to sneak into second place with very little support.

For the June 7 primary, state Assembly and state Senate candidates needed as few as 40 people to sign nomination papers to qualify as write-in candidates. And no matter how few votes they won, as long as they finished in second, they advanced to the November election.

This year, Kinney wasnt the only one to win fewer than 50 votes and make it onto the ballot. Thomas Edward Nichols, a Libertarian running against Republican incumbent Jim Patterson of Fresno in Assembly District 8, made it with just 15 votes. Mindy Pechenuk, a Republican in Assembly District 18, advanced to a matchup with Oakland Democrat Mia Bonta with just 31.

In total, nine write-in candidates moved on to the general election in state Assembly races, and two for state Senate seats.

But while getting onto the ballot is one feat, winning the race is another. Its a reality that Kinney acknowledges.

I really understand that its next to impossible to be able to unseat a sitting Democrat in the Legislature, said Kinney, who ran unsuccessfully for state Assembly in 2014 and for state Senate in 2016. But weve got to put up a good fight anyway. Its important that voters who care about the decency of life have an opportunity to rally together and say so.

Christian Grose, academic director of the USC Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy, said while its a quirk of the election system that write-in candidates can make it to the ballot with so little support, its not necessarily a problem caused by the top-two primary system or by the write-in process.

Its the lack of serious competition from formal Republican and Libertarian candidates, he said. Basically, its the lack of organized challengers thats the problem.

Because of the write-ins, only two candidates for 100 legislative seats have a free pass on the Nov. 8 ballot: Republican Assemblymember Vince Fong of Bakersfield and Democratic Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer of Los Angeles. (Democrat Giselle Hale, mayor of Redwood City, withdrew last week for the open Assembly District 21 seat in Silicon Valley, but her name will still appear on the ballot with Diane Papan, a San Mateo City Council member and now the only active candidate.)

The write-in process was established in California in 1911 as part of the Progressive Era political reforms, according to Alex Vassar, communications manager at the California State Library.

Prior to that, political parties would hand out tickets to voters essentially filled-out ballots.

One of the major goals was to empower individual voters and weaken the political machines, and give voters the ability to make separate decisions in each election contest. California adopted what was called the Australian ballot, which was essentially the modern secret ballot that we know and love today, Vassar said.

Only a handful of write-in candidates have won either legislative or congressional seats in the last century. Vassar said it was beyond rare in 1930, 1936, 1944, 1958 and 1982.

When U.S. Rep. C. F. Curry died in office in October 1930, his son, C. F. Curry Jr., won the seat the next month as a write-in, defeating a Republican, a Democrat, and two independents. When Assemblymember Lee Bashore died in September 1944, he had already won both the Republican and Democratic nominations. Three write-in candidates ran, and Ernest R. Geddes was elected with 45.9% of the vote, according to Vassar.

It lets people onto the playing field, but not onto one of the teams, said Thad Kousser, a professor of political science at the University of California, San Diego. It allows candidates entry, but then places a mountain to climb still for write-in candidates.

Even if the write-in candidates are political unknowns, it creates more competition for the general election, Grose said.

Its probably a nuisance for these incumbents who will probably win, he said. Theyre going to do a little more work, and thats not so bad.

In an April meeting of the Santa Monica Democratic Club, state Sen. Ben Allen acknowledged that to keep his seat, he had to beat a write-in candidate Kristina Irwin.

She seems like a very nice person who watches way too much Fox News, and shes just kind of, like, adopted all the crazy Republican conspiracy theories, Allen said at the event, according to the Santa Monica Daily Press. He added that being pushed to campaign more aggressively would be a good thing.

Irwin won 6,260 votes in the primary far more than the 213 earned by another write-in candidate in that race, but 159,000 votes fewer than Allen.

In Orange County, write-in candidate Leon Sit, a 19-year-old engineering student at UCLA, advanced to the general election with 551 votes from Orange and San Bernardino counties.

That result reinforces that the voice of each and every voter matters, that every vote counts, Orange County Registrar of Voters Bob Page said in an email. From an election operations standpoint, Page said the write-in process does not create any additional work or challenges.

Sen. Ben Allen has taken at least $583,000 from the Finance, Insurance & Real Estate sector since he was elected to the legislature. That represents 14% of his total campaign contributions.

Sit said he used social media to gather support, and was also interviewed by local reporters, which increased his name recognition.

Still, he said, statistically the political winds are not in the favor of a challenger like me. And if he somehow beats Republican Phillip Chen, he might have to cut back on his course load or even take a break from school.

I didnt come into this to be a legislator, Sit said. I did it to give the district a choice between two candidates, even if one of those candidates was a 19-year-old college student.

Nichols, who is up against Patterson, won a spot on the November ballot with even fewer votes, just 15. Like Sit, he knows unseating the incumbent is a long shot.

Patterson has been in the Legislature since 2012, The district, which encompasses the Central Valley and parts of the Sierra Nevada, is largely Republican.

Still, Nichols said he was motivated to run to get the Libertarian Partys message before voters and to raise the issues he sees in his local community, especially the increased cost of living due to fire threats specifically, homeowner and property insurance.

Nichols says hes glad the write-in process exists and that it could give voters a way to think outside of the duopoly that dominates our political culture.Ive got to say, I really appreciate the fact that an engineer up here in the foothills could wind up on the ballot going after an incumbent, he said. Im satisfied with the democratic process in that respect.

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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

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Is It Too Easy for Write-In Candidates in California Elections? - Lost Coast Outpost

As someone involved in healthcare (public and private) since the 70s, I have written so many columns about Georgias lame response to COVID that it is hard to determine where to start. But I will give it the old school try, starting with the misconception spread by libertarians that we have done a good job on COVID prevention in Georgia. We have not.

First, it would be good to understand how COVID spread across the U.S.

It first hit the U.S. with a vengeance in high population-density blue areas like New York and California. So, at the beginning, cases and deaths were much higher in these Democrat-controlled areas. But that changed as the pandemic spread.

And, as opposed to other nations, COVID became a political issue in the U.S.

Democrats thought President Donald Trump was doing a horrible job of controlling the pandemic. Republicans trusted that he was doing well and believed Trumps claim that rising case numbers were only due to more testing. Objective studies now prove that the U.S. did much more poorly than other democracies. A report in Infection Control Today notes that the data does show that the United States is below average in the world and among the worst in the developed and high-income nations.

By September of 2021, death rates were much higher in red counties. Per one objective study, the coronavirus death rate among the 20% of Americans living in counties that supported Trump by the highest margins in 2020 was about 170% of the death rate among the 1-in-5 Americans living in counties that supported Biden by the largest margins.

And that trend continues to this day, including in Georgia. Compare socialist Vermonts cases (12 per 100,000) with Georgia (35 per 100,000). Then look at vaccinations: Georgia- only 57% fully vaccinated (with about 40% of them boosted) versus Vermont at 82% (63% of them boosted). So, more people are getting it here and they are sicker when they do. The question is why?

The answer is that in our nation and state populist politics has gotten in the way of modern healthcare practices.

In February and March of 2020, our nation and states were in crisis mode, although CDC guidance was hamstrung both by politics and general incompetence. Many states, particularly the blue ones, began taking strong actions on their own to control the spread.

But it took until April 2 that year for Gov. Brian Kemp to eventually get around to issuing a shelter in place executive order, finally joining 42 other states that had already done so. Local Georgia Boards of Health are virtually powerless to act under state law (and they still are).

So, counties and cities must take action when the state does not.

The Georgia Municipal Association (GMA) model ordinance declared a much-broader public health state of emergency. However, many local governments were also slow to act to approve it. For example, where I live in Peachtree City, the libertarian-oriented then-Mayor issued a very weak emergency order. Plus, it had numerous major holes in it compared to the GMA model. Among the shortcomings: restaurant in-dining was still permitted, and day care centers were still open, as were hair and nail salons, gyms, fitness centers, pools and so on.

So, the virus spread.

Due to lack of leadership by Kemp, Georgia is still behind the blue states and the nation regarding COVID measures. And he is getting way with it due to the destructive libertarian streak in the GOP and the failure of some of the media to point out our factual shortcomings.

What concerns me is that there are still non-healthcare people spreading misconceptions. There are still people incorrectly pointing to President Biden getting COVID (which has been like a cold for him because he was vaccinated and boosted) and saying that is proof the vaccinations dont work.

They ignore the fact that without the vaccine, he might have died.

In conclusion, please look at the data before saying measures like masking and vaccinations do not work. Ask healthcare professionals rather than believing talking heads.

Jack Bernard, a former health care executive, was the first director of health planning for Georgia. Hes a former chairman of the Jasper County Commission. Given events of late, he now describes himself politically as a former Republican.

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Opinion: Where Georgia blew it on COVID - The Atlanta Journal Constitution

New York City Mayoral Candidates Campaign On Last Day Before Primaries

Michael M. Santiago/Getty

On Wednesday, several former Republican and Democratic officials announced a new national political party the "Forward Party" to appease the growing number of voters who see America's two-party system as dysfunctional.

Speaking to Reuters, who exclusively broke the news, the party's leaders cited a Gallup poll last year showing a record two-thirds of Americans believe a third party is needed. The Forward Party will have centrist views, though specific policies have not yet been laid out.

To get running, the new third party is co-chaired by former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang and former Republican governor of New Jersey Christine Todd Whitman.

The party's official launch will be in Houston on Sept. 24. Party leaders also plan to hold a series of events around the nation this autumn to rally support, then host the party's first national convention in a major U.S. city next summer.

RELATED: More Than 100,000 Republicans Left the Party Since January, Registration Data Shows: Report

The new party is the result of three alternative political groups coming together. The merger involves the Renew America Movement, formed in 2021 by former officials in the Republican administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and Donald Trump; the namesake Forward Party, founded by the formerly Democratic and independent Yang; and the Serve America Movement, led by former Republican Rep. David Jolly.

Though vague, the Forward Party aims to "reinvigorate a fair, flourishing economy" and to "give Americans more choices in elections, more confidence in a government that works, and more say in our future," Reuters reports.

RELATED: #WeCanDoBetter: 'Never Trump' Republicans Turn to Dreams of Drafting 'Adult' Third-Party Candidate

Third parties don't generally take off in America, given its deep-rooted two-party setup. But in today's hyper-politicized environment, it could certainly affect future elections and if history repeats itself, it may come at a cost to Democrats.

Story continues

In the infamous 2000 presidential election, Green Party candidate Ralph Nader got just enough support to strip Democratic nominee Al Gore of the win, handing Republican nominee George W. Bush the presidency. In 2016, Green Party's Jill Stein and Libertarian Party's Gary Johnson are partially credited with Donald Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton.

Understandably, Democrats are already expressing fear that Yang's new group will tamper with the fragile 2024 election.

If Forward succeeds at carrying out its goals, it will be on the ballot in all 50 states by late 2024, Reuters reports. In addition to looking at nominating someone for president in the next election, it will focus on elevating candidates for local, state and congressional elections.

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Andrew Yang to Lead New Political Party Aiming to 'Reinvigorate' Economy: What It Means for Future Elections - Yahoo! Voices