The youth wing and a state branch of Anderson’s political party, Alternative für Deutschland, were recently declared extremist organizations in Germany.
Peter Smith
Canadian Anti-Hate Network
Christine Anderson and Eva Vlaardingerbroek pictured together on the promotional poster for the Make It Your Business North American Tour. Source: Trinity Productions
A member of the European Parliament for a far-right political party is returning to Canada on a speaking tour — and this time she is bringing a friend.
Christine Anderson, an MEP with Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative For Germany – AfD), has booked speaking events in Vancouver on Nov. 26, Winnipeg on Nov. 28, and Ottawa on Nov. 29. Each stop will also feature multiple local speakers, but Anderson is also bringing Eva Vlaardingerbroek, a far-right political pundit with her for each Canadian stop.
The locations of each event have not been revealed to the public and ticketholders will be notified of the address two days before each event, according to the ticket seller.
Dubbed Christine Anderson’s Make It Your Business North American Tour, it does include a single stop in New Jersey, the only US date scheduled so far. A follow-up to February's What Would Christine Anderson Do tour and a shorter spat of speaking engagements in Southern Ontario in June, her previous visits included meeting with Conservative MPs Colin Carrie, Dean Allison and Leslyn Lewis. In response, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre issued a statement calling Anderson’s views “vile” and do not have a place in Canadian politics.
"Frankly, it would be better if Anderson never visited Canada in the first place. She and her racist, hateful views are not welcome here," the statement said, according to the CBC.
Anderson became a figure of minor renown among the Canadian far-right after she called out Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a visit to the EU in 2022.
Responding to health measures imposed during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the then-recently put down “Freedom Convoy” protests and blockades, she told Trudeau he was a “disgrace for any democracy” and to “spare us your presence.”
Independent Croatian MEP Mislav Kolakušić and another AfD MEP, Bernhard Zimniok, echoed her comments.
The comments were covered by numerous mainstream Canadian media outlets, while also appearing to have received little coverage in Germany or Europe. A report from Press Progress at the time notes how little of the Canadian coverage discussed the far-right allegiances and backgrounds of the politicians in question.
Besides AfD, Anderson is also part of the Identity and Democracy Group (ID). Both the German political party, AfD, and the EU alliance, ID, are unabashedly opposed to the EU economic pact.
Far from only opposing the EU, both these political bodies, and Anderson herself, are much more than Euroskeptics.
“Abortion, climate change, gender delusion,” Anderson told the EU in a translated German video released to her YouTube channel, “what you call ‘defence of democracy,’ I call ideological bullshit which – under the abolition of democratic principles – you intend to impose.”
The words, a response to the EU’s 2022 human rights report, are far from the only time Anderson has used the bully pulpit to push far-right and racist rhetoric.
Since its inception, the party has taken numerous anti-refugee, anti-Muslim, and anti-immigrant stances.
Anderson told the public after her election in 2018 that her plan was "to lead Germany out of this EU nightmare." She joined AfD after, according to Der Spiegel, time as an activist for Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamicisation of the West (PEGIDA) – an anti-Muslim advocacy and street protest group with chapters across Europe and North America.
The Canadian iteration of PEGIDA has not been able to mount a significant protest in several years and the group is largely defunct. It is probably best remembered for organizing a protest that saw some participants brawling with antifascist counter-protesters inside a downtown Toronto shopping mall.
Much like in Germany, the Canadian branch of PEGIDA believes Western countries are being deliberately invaded by Islamic extremists in a plot to subvert democracy and replace the population.
After the withdrawal of coalition forces from Afghanistan, Anderson told the EU it should “call the devil by its name,” blaming Islam as a whole for the treatment of women under the Taliban regime.
The youth wing of AfD (Junge Alternative für Deutschland) was confirmed as an extremist organization in May 2023 by the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) due to undemocratic elements existing within the party. On November 7, 2023, the Saxony-Anhalt state chapter of the party was also designated as an extremist organization. Despite the designations, AfD made significant gains during the last state elections, coming in second place in Hesse and third place in Bavaria.
Vlaardingerbroek, Anderson’s tourmate, appears mostly in Western media to give perspectives on the Netherlands. She appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show when it was still on Fox News and is a frequent guest on GBNews where she has been interviewed by Canadian Mark Steyn.
Educated in legal philosophy, Vlaardingerbroek quickly moved into roles in politics and punditry. Taking stances against abortion, denying the human impact on climate change, she also promotes conspiracy theories about immigration.
During an interview with The Spectator, she said that the government had restricted nitrogen use by farmers to free up land to house immigrants, a claim she delivered to a much larger audience when talking to Tucker Carlson.
The Netherlands is the world’s second-largest producer of agricultural products. Figures from Europe and the Dutch government show extensive economic and environmental damage caused by an overabundance of nitrogen in the soil, which can also lead to a variety of medical issues. With 70 per cent of land in the Netherlands showing an excess of nitrogen, attempts to tackle the issue included a significant reduction in livestock. Many farmers, worried about the future of their livelihood, took to the streets in massive national protests, including the occupation of major city centres.
Despite billions earmarked for transitioning farmers into more sustainable options for farming, and an economy reliant on agriculture, Vlaardingerbroek told Carlson that the issue is “the Dutch government stealing our farmers’ land” under the guise of a “made-up nitrogen crisis.”
“It’s clear that the government is not doing this because of a nitrogen crisis, they are doing this because they want these farmers’ land and they want it to house new immigrants,” Vlaardingerbroek said during the broadcast.
She added that farmers are standing in the way of the “great reset plans they have for us.”
Stops on the Anderson tour include local guests, typically recognizable by their allegiance to various far-right political issues. Vancouver’s stop will include “Billboard” Chris Elston, a prominent transphobic activist. In Winnipeg, one of the speakers includes Patrick Allard, a failed candidate for school board trustee and MLA. He was also a regular feature during the COVID protests. Allard has made numerous hateful statements, typically targeting 2SLGBTQ+ people, or boosting organizations that actively work against them.
The Ottawa stop will be by far the largest with six speakers besides Anderson and Vlaardingerbroek. Among them is Josh Alexander, who appeared during Anderson’s last tour. During his previous appearance, she not only endorsed the young activist but literally embraced him. Alexander has organized a series of anti-2SLGBTQ+ protests, some of them in front of schools, after being suspended from a school in an Ontario Catholic board for what he says are his religious beliefs.
A parent of a transgender student at the school told City News that Alexander had been suspended for harassing her child.
“You know what guys, this is what we need,” Anderson said from the stage before hugging the 17-year-old. “Young people standing up for what they believe in.”
Other notable meetings during her last trip include one of the February 2022 Ottawa protest organizers, Tamara Lich and Diagolon livestreamer Derek Harrison.
Christine Anderson (left) and Tamara Lich (right). Source: Instagram
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