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OTTAWA — Maxime Bernier is blaming a “totalitarian leftist mob” for the decision to take down billboards promoting his controversial stance on immigration.

The leader of the People’s Party of Canada is complaining of censorship after the owner of the billboards, featuring Bernier’s face and a slogan advocating against mass immigration, said he would remove the ads in response to an outpouring of criticism.

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Bernier says his political opponents and the “leftist mob” want to stifle discussion of immigration and keep him out of the election debates.

Pattison Outdoor Advertising, which owns the billboards, originally said that if anyone had an issue with the content, they should contact the third-party group running them, True North Strong & Free Advertising Corp.

But the company has changed course, saying it never meant to offend or alienate anyone and that the ads would come down.

Bernier has said the 350,000 immigrants Canada accepts every year is too high a number. His party platform says it inflates housing prices and that other political parties to use “mass immigration” as a tool to buy votes from immigrant communities.