Poilievre distances himself from Conservative senators’ comments on suing reporters

When asked if Pierre Poilievre and the Conservative caucus agree with Sen. Victor Oh’s comments about suing 'messy reporters,' the Tory leader's office responded 'no.'

Pierre Poilievre says he does not support a Conservative senator’s suggestion to raise money to sue “messy reporters” covering Beijing’s alleged foreign interference in Canadian politics.

Oh, a Conservative senator for Ontario appointed by former prime minister Stephen Harper in 2013, was heard musing about raising funds to go after “unreasonable journalists” on a video posted to social media. The comments were first reported by The Canadian Press last month.

In the video posted to social media platform WeChat, Oh spoke about the “need to raise money to cover costs for (people affected) by all of these unreasonable reporters who try to smear Chinese and discredit Chinese,” according to The Canadian Press.

“We need to take legal action to deal with the messy reporters, newspapers and politicians,” Oh was reported to have said.

Oh was born in Singapore before immigrating to Canada in 1978. His Senate bio listed him as an entrepreneur and volunteer before being appointed to the Upper Chamber in 2013 under Harper. As a senator, Oh has been active on interparliamentary committees, including the Canada-China Legislative Association and the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group.

Oh’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Global News, but in a statement, a spokesperson for Poilievre flatly rejected Oh’s call for crowdfunded lawsuits against journalists covering foreign interference.

Asked if Poilievre and the Conservative caucus supported Oh’s idea, Poilievre’s office responded with a flat “no.” Asked if Poilievre and the Conservative caucus believed reporters were attempting to “smear” Chinese Canadians in their coverage, the office added a second “no.”

“Canadians of Chinese origin are some of our most patriotic people. I stand with them against foreign interference and for democracy,” the brief statement, attributed to Poilievre, read.