EXCLUSIVE: Maxime Bernier’s PPC scrambles to douse dumpster fire ignited by racist emails

Editorial update: Security experts now believe that the emails in question are forgeries originating from a hijacked server in Germany.

The regional coordinator for the B.C. wing of Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party of Canada is denying a racist email sent from his account on May 29 is his doing.

“This has already been referred to criminal investigation and we’re not in a position to be talking about any of it at this time,” Glen Walushka, alleged author of the missive told The Post Millennial. “I’m not at liberty to provide any kind of comments, I apologize for that.”

The email provided to TPM by former People’s Party organizer Angelo Isidorou, casts problematic aspersions on the nascent political party.

“People of color [sic] need to be removed from any policy positions (they’re all liberals anyways) and put into communications roles as staff or volunteers,” allegedly writes Walushka in the email. “We give them important sounding titles/put them in front of the liberal media – and counteract the Left’s witch hunt and authoritarian attempts to impose its politically correct dogmas everywhere.”

Walushka “absolutely, categorically” denies sending the email from his glen@peoplespartyofcanada.ca address.

The purportedly bogus message was then followed by two subsequent emails; a second from Walushka’s address attempting to clarify original remarks in his first message, and another by Daniel Tyrie, a PPC staffer. In the latter communication, Tyrie writes:

“Keep in mind you signed a legally binding non-disclosure agreement, the e-mail was inappropriate but should not be leaked. Glen personally moderates a number of websites, blog sites, podcast and social media accounts, and we could easily assume blame on a volunteer that wrote the e-mail, or it could have been hacked by our opponents to create fake news and sensationalism. Any attempt at contacting leftist media outlets for five minutes of fame will be discredited swiftly and prosecuted.”

Tyrie did not respond to TPM requests for comment and a similar request to Bernier elicited the following response from the PPC’s executive director Johanne Mennie:

“The emails that you reference are forgeries. Please send us any emails or screenshots in your possession to enable our legal team to properly address the situation,” writes Mennie.

Isidorou quit Bernier’s camp in March and said the emails were “accidentally sent” to him.

In an interview, he stood by the authenticity of all three messages, adding that they ultimately reinforced his decision to abandon the party.

“I saw the direction the party was going, it was going in a dark direction,” Isidorou told TPM. “And if you look at those emails, they’re talking about removing people of colour from the party.”

Describing his own politics as libertarian, Isidorou said he joined the People’s Party of Canada because he believed Maxime Bernier’s talk of presenting Canadian voters with “classical liberal” alternative to the current status quo.

“Doing this breaks my heart,” Isidorou told TPM of releasing the emails. “It really does sadden me because I loved Max.”