BJ Dichter
| BJ Dichter | |
|---|---|
| Born | Benjamin J. Dichter |
| 🏳️ Nationality | Canadian |
| 💼 Occupation | |
| 🏢 Organization | LGBTory |
| Known for | Podcasting, politics, activism, Ottawa protest leadership |
Benjamin J. Dichter is a business owner, podcaster, two-time political candidate, and a protest leader from Toronto, Canada.
Dichter is an organizer, spokesperson, and the fundraising co-leader for the 2022 Canada convoy protest. He is the founder of the LGBTQ conservative group LGBTory.
He is noted for his public statements about Islam, including those made during his keynote speech at People's Party of Canada first convention in 2019.
Dichter was the candidate for Toronto Centre-Rosedale in the 2014 Toronto municipal election, and the 2015 Conservative candidate for Toronto-Danforth. He lost both elections.
Personal life[edit]
Ditcher lives in the Danforth area of Toronto.[1] He has previously lived in South America.[2] He is Jewish.[3]
Career and activism[edit]
Dichter is a certified gemologist, a diamond grader, a truck driver, and podcaster.[4][1] He previously operated a digital print business in Toronto.[5]
He is the founder of Possibly Correct media, that publish a podcast by the same name.[6][7] Podcast topics include philosophy, Islamic terrorism, and promotion of COVID-19 misinformation and conspiracy theories.[7] He also runs the Quiggin Report podcast[6] and Open College podcast.[8]
Politics[edit]
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In 2014,[5][9] Dichter ran for Toronto city council for Toronto Centre-Rosedale, winning approximately 1,500 out of 31,000 votes, (just under five per cent).[2][5] His platform focused on budgets, infrastructure, transit, a desire to avoid partisanship politics,[2] and a specific ambition to create affordable low-rise housing.[9][10] Kristyn Wong-Tam won the riding.[5]
After the original candidate Tim Dutaud was dropped by the federal Conservative party of Canada,[11][12] Dichter ran as the candidate for theToronto-Danforth riding in 2015.[4][1] Ditcher was the only candidate to not turn up for a climate change debate[13] and likewise missed the debate on electoral reform.[14] He won 5,478 votes, ranking third, behind winner Liberal Julie Dabrusin and runner up New Democratic Parity incumbent Craig Scott.[15]
Dichter is the founder of LGBTory, the Rainbow Conservatives of Canada.[1][16]
Dichter's concerns about Islam were noted by True North Times in 2015[17] and Vice News in 2017.[18] In 2019, at a People's Party of Canada's first national convention, Dichter did the opening keynote speech[19] where he spoke about "political Islam" and how it has "infiltrated" the Liberal party and the Conservative party of Canada.[20][21][22] Maxime Bernier thanked Dichter for raising questions about how Canada dealt with Islamic extremism.[23]
Punditry[edit]
On 27 January 2022,[24] Ditcher was a guest on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News program.[4][25] He spoke about his journey to Ottawa ahead of the Ottawa protests, and how Alberta looked like a "third-world country" due the trucking industry being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.[4]
Canada convoy protest[edit]
On 14 January 2022, Dichter co-organized the GoFundMe crowd-funding for the Canada convoy protest.[26] A successful court injunction from local residents and businesses forced the funds to be frozen,[27] prompting Dichter to accuse GoFundMe of theft.[28] On February 2022, Ditcher agreed to move the funds into an escrow account.[29]
Ditcher has claimed to be a vice president, and one of the four official spokespeople for the Canada convoy protest.[4] When asked, he expressed no concern at the presence of confederate flags at the event.[4]
In January 2022, he called on protestors to be peaceful.[30]
As police moved to stop the protest, Ditcher called on protestors to stand their ground, and called on police to let drivers remove their vehicles, before leaving Ottawa himself.[31][32]
Other views[edit]
Ditcher promotes use of Bitcoin,[22] including at the Ottawa protest.[33]
He has said that "Justin Trudeau must be stopped…no matter the cost”[4] and has described all politicians of all parties as "all horrible, all of them".[19]
He has asked God to bless Ted Cruz and Ron DeSantis.[28]
His anti-Islam views have were noted in the New York Times in 2022,[34] the Guardian quoted his warning of the “growing Islamization of Canada”.[35]
He has criticized Pride Toronto for banning police, describing it as having gone "full circle from being a civil rights cause to a celebration to a form of regressive left political weaponry".[36]
Family life[edit]
Dichter has a brother, who is a police officer.[36]
See also[edit]
2014 and 2015 politics[edit]
- 2014 Toronto municipal election
- Results of the 2015 Canadian federal election by riding
2022 protests[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Toronto-Danforth Conservatives name Benjamin Dichter as new candidate". Toronto.com. 2015-09-22. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 De Melo, Chris (9 Oct 2015). "LGBTory.ca founder ready for move from municipal to national politics" (PDF). Toronto Observer. p. 4.
- ↑ Nir, Sarah Maslin; Kitroeff, Natalie (2022-02-16). "Behind the Fractious Collaboration Steering the Canada Protests". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 "Who is who? A guide to the major players in the trucker convoy protest". CTVNews. 2022-02-10. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 DeMara, Bruce (2014-10-27). "Kristyn Wong-Tam easily wins Ward 27, Toronto Centre-Rosedale". The Toronto Star. ISSN 0319-0781. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Gully, Christopher (2022-02-14). "Many players behind truckers' convoy protest, Hillier says 50 people 'in various control rooms or war rooms in hotels around the city'". The Hill Times. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Duhamel, Frédérik-Xavier (29 Jan 2022). "Qui sont les participants à la manifestation des camionneurs? | Coronavirus". Radio-Canada.ca (in français). Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ↑ "CFTRL Speakers". www.cftrl.org. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 LePage, Michelle (2014-10-22). "Your ward, your choice". Ryersonian.ca. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ↑ "Benjamin Dichter". Toronto.com. 2014-08-25. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ↑ Harris, Kathleen (29 Sep 2015). "Replacement candidate scramble goes down to the wire". CBC.
- ↑ Miller, Adam (19 Oct 2015). "Toronto-Danforth won by Julie Dabrusin in unexpected victory for the Liberals | Globalnews.ca". Global News. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ↑ McClure, Match (9 October 2015). "Climate change a hot topic at Toronto-Danforth debate" (PDF). Toronto Observer. p. 3.
- ↑ Last, Paula (9 Oct 2015). "Electoral reform on the agenda at debate" (PDF). Toronto Observer. pp. 1, 3.
- ↑ Liu, Cherry (Changhong) (2015-10-20). "Scott swept aside by Liberal tide". The Toronto Observer. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ↑ "Maxime Bernier tells party faithfuls he will make it into the leaders' debates". The Globe and Mail. 18 Aug 2019. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ↑ "Conservative Candidate Benjamin Dichter Shared "Crusade Against Islamisation of The World" video". The True North Times. 2015-09-29. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ↑ Balgord, Evan (6 Dec 2017). "Conservative party leadership advisor helped create anti-Islam organization". www.vice.com. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 "Where's 'freedom' from here? Canada's convoy protests are over, but the anger remains - National | Globalnews.ca". Global News. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ↑ "Bernier tries to walk line between libertarianism and identity politics at People's Party's first national convention". The Hamilton Spectator. 2019-08-19. ISSN 1189-9417. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ↑ Boutilier, Alex (2019-08-18). "Bernier tries to walk line between libertarianism and identity politics at People's Party's first national". The Toronto Star. ISSN 0319-0781. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 Freeze, Colin (2022-02-11). "Convoy protests' key figures count liberal ideas, 'political Islam,' Ottawa's indifference toward the West among their grievances". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ↑ Smith, Joanna (18 Aug 2019). "Maxime Bernier tells party faithful he will make it into the leaders' debates". The Chronicle-Journal. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ↑ Smellie, Sarah (3 Mar 2022). "Politics of convoy protests 'here to stay,' and so are movement's leaders: experts". The Chronicle-Journal. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ↑ Dystart, Taylor (11 Feb 2022). "The Ottawa trucker convoy is rooted in Canada's settler colonial history". Washington Post.
- ↑ "'Freedom Convoy' protest: How did we get here?". CTVNews. 2022-02-08. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ↑ Ki Sun Hwang, Priscilla (28 Feb 2022). "Court extends rare order to freeze up to $20M in crypto, cash donations to 'Freedom Convoy'". CBC.
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 "Police move in on Alberta protesters, issue warnings in Ottawa". CTVNews. 2022-02-09. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ↑ "Another Ottawa convoy protest organizer denied bail in Ontario court". The Globe and Mail. 2022-02-28. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ↑ "The convoy crisis in Ottawa: A timeline of key events". CBC. 17 Feb 2022.
- ↑ Cecco, Leyland (20 Feb 2022). "Ottawa protests end with conspiracy claims and accusations of betrayal". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ↑ "Canadian police arrest at least 100 protesters in bid to break up Ottawa truck blockade". the Guardian. 2022-02-19. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ↑ Hawkins, Andrew J. (2022-02-09). "The anti-vaxx Canadian truckers want to talk to you about Bitcoin". The Verge. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ↑ Nir, Sarah Maslin; Kitroeff, Natalie; Bilefsky, Dan; Austen, Ian (2022-02-17). "Police Begin Arresting Protest Organizers in Canada". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ↑ "5G and QAnon: how conspiracy theorists steered Canada's anti-vaccine trucker protest". the Guardian. 2022-02-08. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
- ↑ 36.0 36.1 Levy, Sue-Anne (19 Jan 2017). "Pride ban 'slap in the face' to cops: McCormack". edmontonsun. Retrieved 2022-03-09.
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