OTTAWA – Several right wing politicians including Andrew Scheer are clarifying that their attendance at a pro-pipeline/anti-immigration rally last week was solely meant to champion the environmentally devastating oil industry and not the overt omnipresent racism on display.

“I went to the rally to express my support for the industry that virtually every climate scientist agrees is destroying the human race’s ability to continue to live comfortably on this planet,” Andrew Scheer said. “I consider the white supremacy aspect of the rally incidental and it does not have my support.”

“I want our ENTIRE species, regardless of colour, to die at an equal rate.”

Despite his denials, there are lingering questions as to why a national party leader like Scheer would not only attend but speak at a rally in which support for the oil industry and anger at immigrants were inexplicably and inextricably linked. Those questions are not being asked of Maxime Bernier because everyone understands why he was there.

“Prime Minister Trudeau did not attend the rally or meet with the convoy. The Liberals do not support the rampant xenophobia on display,” said a spokesperson for the Prime Minister. “Furthermore, PM Trudeau doesn’t need to resort to racism adjacent grandstanding to demonstrate his contempt for the biosphere, it’s expressed in the billions of dollars in oil-related subsidies given every year to prop up a dying 19th century industry that’s going to take us all with it.”