OTTAWA—The Conservatives appear to be sticking by MP Michael Cooper after the rookie MP read part of the Christchurch shooter’s manifesto into the record at a parliamentary committee.

Cooper suggested last week that a witness testifying about online hate made “defamatory comments” connecting the Christchurch shooter to conservative movements.

After taking “great umbrage” to Faisal Khan Suri’s testimony, Cooper said the president of the Alberta Muslim Public Affairs Council that he should be “ashamed” for his testimony on online hate.

The committee quickly descended into a shouting match, with Cooper apologizing and later being stripped of his vice chair role by Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer.

At the time, Cooper said he “quoted the words of a white supremacist anti-Muslim mass murderer in an ill-advised attempt to demonstrate that such acts are not linked to conservatism.” Cooper says he should not have said those words or named the perpetrator.

Suri said he was shocked that Cooper would read the Christchurch shooter’s manifesto in a public parliamentary session, and called for Scheer to remove him from the Conservative caucus.

“To have a standing federal MP pull words from a … banned document from a white extremist killer in a national standing committee is very surprising and concerning,” Suri said in an interview Monday.

“We’ve never linked conservatism to any violent extremism whatsoever … That’s where he misunderstood and misinterpreted our words.”

Suri is calling on Scheer to remove Cooper from Conservative caucus. Scheer’s office did not respond to multiple emails, phone calls and text messages requesting comment Monday. An email and phone call to Cooper’s office requesting comment were not returned.

On Twitter, Scheer’s office wrote that they consider the matter to be closed.

“Having taken the time to review the incident, I have informed (Cooper) that he will no longer sit on the justice committee as a consequence,” according to a statement on Scheer’s official account Saturday.

Whatever Cooper’s political fate, the incident sets up a potentially fractious debate when the committee reconvenes Tuesday morning to discuss online hate.

The witness list includes Lindsay Shepherd, a former teachers’ assistant at Laurier University who found international fame by surreptitiously recording a disciplinary hearing over her using a clip of academic-turned-showman Jordan Peterson in a class.

Peterson himself was scheduled to appear before the justice committee last month, but cancelled last minute. The National Post reported he cited a family emergency.

Shepherd said she was travelling Monday afternoon and unavailable to speak.

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The committee is also expected to hear from Mark Steyn, an essayist and polemicist who has been criticized for his writings on Muslims.

On March 14, a self-proclaimed racist fatally shot 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, is facing murder and attempted murder charges and a terrorism charge.

With files from The Canadian Press

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