The Heritage Front Affair
Over the course of the Review Committee's investigation of
nThe Heritage Front Affair", a considerable number of
allegations and statements have been made by and about the
white supremacists and their activities in relation to the
Reform Party. This section reviews several of the
allegations and the answers which the Committee has obtained
through its investigation.
7.7.1 Max French and "Race Traitors"
The Reform Party raised the question as to why, when David
Maxwell French was revealed as a Heritage Front member, he
allegedly called the Reform Party "race traitors".[249]
There is also the issue of who encouraged French to remain
in the Party.
According to the Source, French was expressing a strongly
and widely held belief in the extreme right: that in the
United Kingdom, the Conservative Party under former Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher won her elections by adopting the
platform of the racist National Front Party. In so doing,
she "pacified the masses."[250]
Preston Manning was seen by the white supremacists as an
agent of ZOG (the Zionist Occupation Government) - an
appeaser of the masses like Margaret Thatcher. His success
in Canada would appeal to those targeted by the extreme
right and would allow the population in this country to vent
their frustration. It was believed that the right wing would
need another 15 to 20 years to organize and attract wide
support, especially after the Heritage Front expulsions from
the Reform Party.[251]
According to the Source, Max French drifted out of the
Nationalist Party of Canada and towards
Droege and the
Heritage Front after a "falling out" with
Don Andrews.[252]
There is no evidence that David Maxwell French was under
pressure from anyone to remain in the Reform Party.[253] He
had been named, and his photograph published, in an article
by Bill Dunphy in the Toronto Sun, in February 1992. It was
simply going to be a matter of time before someone in the
Reform Party noticed that he had not been expelled along
with all the other known racists. No intelligent conspirator
would have used such a well-known racist to infiltrate the
Reform Party.
7.7.2 Grant Bristow and the Progressive Conservatives
The Review Committee asked Bristow whether he had had any
contacts with members or officials of the Progressive
Conservative Party.
Bristow had two links to Progressive Conservatives. In 1984
he worked in the election campaign for David Crombie.
Bristow thought that Crombie had been an excellent mayor of
Toronto and he therefore wanted to support the candidate's
federal election campaign.[254]
In the second case, Grant Bristow worked in the 1988
election campaign for Otto Jelinek, solely at the request of
Bob Tye. Tye was Bristow's Supervisor at the firm of Kuehne
& Nagel, and served on the executive of Otto Jelinek's
campaign as a fundraiser. During the 1988 election campaign,
Tye and Bristow had a friendly relationship.[255]
Bristow and Jelinek met a couple of times at Jelinek's home.
During the election, Bristow performed two activities: he
canvassed door to door the Sunday before the election,
talking and handing out pamphlets. On election day, Bristow
went to the polling station at night to count ballots;
otherwise, Bristow said, he would not have been able to get
into the victory party which was to follow.[256]
Allegations have surfaced about prominent Conservative Party
official John Tory and his contacts with Grant Bristow.
Overfield told the Review Committee under oath that his
"well - founded suspicion" was that Wolfgang
Droege
"received funds through Grant Bristow, directly from John
Tory; also Otto Jelinek and John Gamble."[257] Al Overfield
adduced no facts whatsoever to support this assertion.
John Tory's law firm was chosen by the former government to
prosecute
Droege for the Heritage Front hate line. It was
learmed that Droege told a reporter that it was not true
that Droege was being paid by John Tory. But later,
OverfieXd told
Droege that they may as well do John (Tory) a favour and
both Overfield and Droege laughed. Droege felt that to drop
John Tory's name would get them [the Reform Party] really
going. Overfield and
Droege agreed that this was the right
approach.[258]
The Review Committee learned that Overfield said that he did
Jack Hurst a favour, he was the one who `fucked' Overfield
with the Reform Party. Hurst had been given ten names to
check for Heritage Front affiliations by the Reform Party's
Special Committee in 1992.
The Review Committee has confirmed that the above
conversations took place.
Tory denied completely even knowing about Bristow until
recently, much less having met him. He was not involved in
any of the Canadian Human Rights Commission/Tribunal
proceedings, though someone else in his firm may have been,
he said.[259]
Overfield then told the Review Committee that he ultimately
concluded that Toronto Sun reporter Bill Dunphy paid Bristow
"to infiltrate and create the Heritage Front."[260] The
Review Committee has not contacted Bill Dunphy regarding
this allegation.
Former Solicitor General Doug Lewis was asked by the Review
Committee whether he issued any instructions, oral or
written, to the Director of CSIS or his staff at the Service
to investigate the Reform Party. Doug Lewis responded,
"Absolutely not!" When asked if any of his staff issued such
a direction, the response was "One can never have coqplete
knowledge, but I would be amazed if these instructions were
ever issued. Blair Dickerson handled these things and we
never had any discussions about this and she wouldn't have
done so. I can be as assured about her as anybody." He also
stated, "I know I never gave any direct or indirect
instructions and I would be amazed if my staff did. I would
be more than amazed if (my) staff took any action."[261] The
Committee also spoke to Blair Dickerson and she denied
issuing any instructions to CSIS in regard to the Reform
Party.[262]
The Security Intelligence Review Committee has seen no
evidence whatsoever to substantiate the allegation that
Grant Bristow sought to discredit or infiltrate the Reform
Party on behalf of Doug Lewis or the Progressive
Conservative Party of Canada.
The Review Committee examined the links between Paul Fromm,
the Heritage Front and the Reform Party. The material we
examined suggests that Fromm attempted in 1987 and 1988 to
ally himself with the Reform Party and use it to reach his
political objectives. Having failed to achieve that, Fromm
was, in subsequent years, in contact with those Heritage
Front members who attempted to discredit the Reform Party.
1987 Western AssAmbly. In 1987, Paul Fromm arranged for
author Peter Brimelow to speak at the Reform Association's
Western Assembly which was held in Vancouver at the end of
May. The Reform Association granted Fromm observer status
for his efforts. The decisions taken at the Western Assedbly
led to the creation of the Reform Party of Canada.
In 1994, Fromm told the Review Committee that he was
involved with the Assembly as "a number of our subscribers
in B.C. and Alberta were involved." He said that he was
"looking for people who were interested in subscribing to
his publications."[263]
We learned that Fromm concluded that Doug Christie's Western
Canada Concept would never obtain the base of support
necessary to be elected, and so Fromm had turned his
attention to the Reform Association's Western Assembly.
Fromm said he attended the Western Assembly because it gave
him the opportunity for a book table, the sales from which,
proved quite lucrative.[264]
1988 Activities. Fromm showed renewed support for the Reform
Party in 1988 when he went to their policy conference in
Calgary. He said he urged the Party to come East. Fromm had
made liaison with the Reform Party his priority and he made
overtures to Preston Manning to establish an Ontario wing of
the party.
As
Droege would later say about his own views,
Fromm's
perception was that the general membership of the Party was
more right wing than its executive.
With the assistance of an associate who had links to the
Aryan Nations,
Fromm made inroads with a Fraser Valley
constituency association. We learned that in February 1988,
Fromm was in contact with a Reform Party candidate in the
1988 federal election for that riding and a member of the
executive.
In an early endorsement of Reform Party, the Spring 1988
issue of the Canadian Population & Immigration Quarterly
Report, published by
Fromm's C-FAR organization, contained a
copy of a Reform Party pamphlet on immigration. The C-FAR
publication said that it endorsed no political party but
directed those interested to write directly to the address
provided on the Reform Party of Canada flyer.
On August 12, 1988
Paul Fromm attended a three day Reform
Party Policy Convention in Calgary.
"Disassociated" from the Reform Party. In August 1988, Paul
Fromm spoke at a meeting on Vancouver Island where many in
attendance were Reform Party of Canada members. Some of
these individuals objected to the racist tenor of Fromm's
speech, and complained to Preston Manning about Fromm's ties
to the party.
In October 1988 Preston Manning sent
Fromm a letter asking
the latter to "disassociate" himself from the Reform Party.
This letter may have contributed to Fromm's decision that
the RPC was not the appropriate vehicle to further his
political objectives. Fromm then ran as a candidate for the
Confederation of Regions (COR) Party in the riding of
Mississauga East.
Fromm informed thr Review Committee that when he realized
the Reform Party was not going to come East to Ontario, "I
looked elsewhere."[265]
Subsequent Links to Reform. In February 1989, while in
Vancouver,
Fromm asked a Reform Party member to organize a
centennial party in celebration of Adolf Hitler's birthday.
The member planned to arrange things so as to involve as
many local skinheads as cared to attend, but changed his
mind after learning that almost all of the Vancouver
skinhead community would be travelling to the
Aryan Nations
compound in Hayden Lake, Idaho for the occasion.
On December 5, 1990
Fromm said that he was asked to speak at
the Martyrs Day Rally where, he said, he spoke about those
in Canada who have "suffered" for freedom of speech. He
stated that some of the other speakers, "I admit, were
pretty radical, pretty off-the-wall."[266]
On June 13, 1991 Overfield set up a table at a C-FAR meeting
to take Reform Party memberships. Our analysis of that event
is provided in section 7.3.5.
Fromm was a featured speaker
at a Heritage Front meeting on September 5, 1991.
In regard to the "John Gamble Affair" described earlier in
this paper, the direct contacts between
Paul Fromm and John
Gamble took place in the early 1980s. When the allegation
about Fromm was laid during the 1993 nomination issue, the
Review Committee was told, a Gamble campaign worker
contacted and secured a letter from Fromm who denied the
charge.[267]
There is no evidence in the material we examined that
Fromm
actively supported John Gamble's nomination for the Reform
Party in the Don Valley West riding for the 1993 federal
election.
Overview. The SIRC investigation revealed that there were
several persons in
Paul Fromm's circle who were involved
with the Reform Party from 1987 to 1991. In addition to
Fromm, they were: Peter Lindquist, Al Overfield, Raymond
Renwick and Robert Jarvis. The reports we saw did not focus
on the Reform Party's activities.
The
original plaintext version
of this file is available via
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Report to the Solicitor General of Canada
Security Intelligence Review Committee
December 9, 1994
7.7 Other Issues