Mums the word as Poilievre, Calgary MP stay silent over hate T-shirt photos

globalnews.ca:

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s office is tight-lipped over a photo of one of his Opposition critics posing with two people wearing slogans against measures addressing sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.

The image, shared to social media, surfaced not long after Poilievre distanced himself from another photo in which he stood next to a man wearing a T-shirt referring to “straight pride.”

The latest photo shows Calgary MP Jasraj Singh Hallan, the Conservative finance critic, standing with three other men during a pancake breakfast that was open to the public last week as part of the Calgary Stampede.

Two of the men are wearing white T-shirts with black letters that read “leave our kids alone.” The shirts also show a smaller, stylized image of a family beneath an umbrella sheltering them from the rainbow of colours associated with LGBTQ Pride flags.

The offices of Poilievre and Hallan, who represents the riding of Calgary Forest Lawn, did not respond to requests for comment on the photo or whether he agrees with the message on the T-shirts.

One of the men in the photo, Mahmoud Mourra, has been protesting school policies and activities that acknowledge students’ sexual orientation and gender identity.

Mourra, who shared the photo on social media, is also facing a charge of hate-motivated criminal harassment. Calgary police say it stems from allegations related to “multiple online interactions” on June 26.

Police say Mourra was charged July 3 and his next court date is in August.

In a telephone interview on Friday, Mourra called the charge against him a “joke,” saying it originated from a dispute with someone he knows.

He said he did not think anything of his T-shirt when he posed for a photo with