On March 2nd, Bowmanville-Oshawa North MP Jamil Jivani hosted his 13th ‘Restore the North’ campus event, in the business building at Memorial University.
Jivani says Restore the North was inspired by campus tours by the late Charlie Kirk and his organization Turning Point USA.
The format was simple: Jivani starts off with an introduction, explaining who he is and why he is doing the Restore the North campus tour. Then he turns it over to the audience to pose questions to him and state how they believe “the North can be restored.”
The event had about 30 people in attendance, with most of the audience conservative leaning, but a decent portion not. The debates ranged all across the policy spectrum, from the far-right Dominion Society and immigration to electoral reform and CANZUK.
The first person to step up to the mic was one of the few people there who was not a conservative, he had a tense exchange with Jivani after telling the MP he believed Jivani’s Restore the North slogan was a “dog whistle” and stated that he was “not being genuine” in his claim that these events are to foster more political engagement.
A handful of protesters picketed the event. Munroe Molotov, held a sign that read, “Restore the North to what?”
In an interview with the Muse, Molotov said that Jamil Jivani’s event and slogan was “sort of this idea that is inherent to fascistic belief of an imagined past,” and likened it to the MAGA movement in the United States.
Munroe also said that Jiavani’s events are “inspired by Charlie Kirk,” someone who Munroe says was a “far-right extremist.”
In an interview with The Muse, Jivani said that Charlie Kirk “literally died for free speech.”
Jivani’s said that “no country has ever been perfect at any time, but for most of Canadian history, people from all around the world could come here, people could be born here, and there was opportunity to have a better life. And it’s just not the case anymore.”
