TORONTO, July 11, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – A t-shirt with a mugshot of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the word “GROPE” emblazoned underneath is the latest response to the Canadian politician’s alleged groping of a female reporter.
Toronto-based conservative news outlet The Rebel Media is selling the t-shirts for $25, plus shipping, through the website gropeshirt.com. The shirt is inspired by the iconic “HOPE” shirts from U.S. President Barack Obama’s first campaign. (During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, conservatives wore similar shirts with an image of Bill Clinton bearing the words “RAPE,” a reference to the rape and sexual misconduct allegations he has faced throughout his political career.)
“Justin Trudeau thinks he can get away with sexually groping a young female reporter. He thinks the public will forget all about it over the summer – and he might be right,” The Rebel co-founder Ezra Levant says in a promotional video.
“Trudeau thinks he can brazen it out. I’ve got a better idea. Let’s remind him of it every day,” he says.
The allegations against the Canadian prime minister have not been proven in a court of law.
The RCMP’s Creston detachment has not investigated the alleged sexual harassment or abuse because there was never a police complaint filed in connection with these allegations.
They first came to light in an editorial in the Creston Valley Advance, in early August 2000.
Trudeau, then a private citizen, was in that British Columbia community for a beer company-sponsored music festival where money was presented for avalanche safety in memory of Trudeau’s deceased brother.
Michel Trudeau, the youngest of former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s sons, died in an avalanche in 1998 while skiing in Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park.
Rose Knight, who was a young female reporter going by her maiden name of Rose Matjasic in 2000, penned an editorial for the Creston Valley Advance. In it, she alleged Trudeau inappropriately handled her and strongly suggested that this touching involved groping.
Knight was then also writing for the National Post and Vancouver Sun. According to her editorial, Trudeau apologized a day after the alleged groping.
“I‘m sorry. If I had known you were reporting for a national newspaper, I never would have been so forward,” she quotes him as saying in that editorial.
Earlier this year, those allegations resurfaced, apparently driven by the high standard Trudeau has set, as a self-professed male feminist, for sexual harassment and sexual abuse allegations. He has had a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to men behaving badly in his caucus.
When Liberal MP Kent Hehr, who is a quadriplegic and has limited muscular control and feeling in his arms, was hit with sexual harassment and sexual abuse allegations, for example, he resigned from cabinet.
Trudeau never invited the Calgary MP back.
When it comes to the allegations about his own behavior, through, the prime minister has steadfastly maintained – despite apologizing to Knight 18 years ago – that he did nothing wrong.
“I am confident I did not act inappropriately,” Trudeau has told news reporters. “I respect the fact that someone else might have experienced that differently.”
Levant has come out swinging, saying those statements by the prime minister are tantamount to accusing Knight of lying about what happened.
“It’s pretty clear he’s saying she’s a liar,” Levant claims in a The Rebel report.
Not so, says Knight.
In a statement, the former reporter insists, “The incident referred to in the editorial did occur, as reported. Mr. Trudeau did apologize the next day.”
She is refusing to comment further on the incident.
The Rebel, though, wants to keep the allegations against Trudeau fresh in the public’s mind.
“I think thousands of Canadians should wear this new shirt, in public. To show Trudeau we know who he is,” reads a message below a video of Levant on The Rebel website.