PHOTOS: Former Canadian Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, now leader of the Conintern. (Photo: Remy Steinegger, Wikimedia Commons.) Below: Margaret Thatcher, just another moderate leader of the “centre right.” Dig those pointy collars! Mr. Harper’s former lieutenant Jason Kenney, who is now the leader of Alberta’s “centre right.”

Stephen Harper was chosen yesterday as leader of the Conservative International, or as I prefer to think of it, the Conintern.

OK, supporters of the former Conservative Party prime minister of Canada would no doubt prefer we called the group by its legal name, the International Democrat Union, but the secretive and well-funded organization calls itself the Freedom International, so its members are obviously thinking along the same conspiratorial internationalist lines.

The Conintern benignly says it plays “an essential role in enabling like-minded, centre-right parties to share experiences in order to achieve electoral success.” In other words, it’s set up to interfere in other countries’ elections, only with more money and more operatives than the typical troll farm in Leningrad, or whatever they’re calling that place nowadays. And it does.

If Mr. Harper’s recent appointment, or the appearance of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher on the roll of honoured founders, doesn’t get the penny to drop, consider this notation on the group’s website: “A major event is also held every four years to coincide with the Republican Convention.”

While Canadian Conservatives were screaming in outrage about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s trip to India, his Conservative predecessor’s elevation to leader of the International Right was taking place in Salamanca, Spain.

In Spain, the pain, falls after the campaign. Or, to put that another way, today’s bad economic idea in one place is tomorrow’s horrible policy in another … and yesterday’s bad prime minister, God help us all, is apparently today’s international ideological beacon.

This story has nothing whatsoever to do with the Comintern, which was something completely different.

I’m not making this up either: Rebel Media to offer investment advice

While we’re catching up on stories about “centre right” organizations, I’m sure readers will share my interest in the news Ezra Levant’s Rebel Media has created a financial investment arm.

Press Progress noticed yesterday that Mr. Levant’s far-right online vlog channel is marketing something called the “Rebel Freedom Fund,” which is “directed at investors seeking to save for retirement.”

The man who made the phrase “ethical oil” famous, called the fund an “ethical investment” in a promotional video, Press Progress reported.

Well, you just can’t make this stuff up, can you? As Progress Alberta’s Duncan Kinney (no relation to anyone with a similar but different name) observed in a Tweet last night, what could possibly go wrong?

Teach those kids a little respect – blame a teacher!

Postmedia columnist Rick Bell, whose stenographic skills are nowadays mostly devoted to jotting down what United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney has to say and putting it on Alberta’s Website o’ Record, has devoted an entire column to Mr. Kenney’s extended social media tantrum about how the Alberta Teachers Association invited environmentalist and scientist David Suzuki to speak at a meeting.

According to Mr. Bell, Mr. Kenney “has heard a parent say their kid came home from school accusing them of killing the planet because they work in the oilpatch.”

So I guess that’s it then. There’s obviously a conspiracy between the ATA and Dr. Suzuki! After all, it’s not like Mr. Kenney would just make something up!

Next up: Time to make home schooling mandatory in Alberta!