An executive producer for CBC Marketplace says Alliston was chosen for a social experiment designed to test racist attitudes partially because it is part of MP Kellie Leitch’s riding, and because research done by a hate-crimes speciallist showed smaller communities can be potential hotbeds for such views.

A recent episode called "The Trump Effect in Canada” saw a CBC actor selling T-shirts with slogans such as “Make Canada Great Again” and “White power” on Victoria Street. Four shirts were sold in under an hour.

Caroline Harvey, an executive producer for the program, said Marketplace did a project last year looking at racism in Canada, and returned to the topic for the recent episode to see what effect Donald Trump’s presidential campaign had on racism and intolerance.

In the episode, Toronto and Barrie were noted as being among the most and least diverse cities in Canada, respectively. Alliston was chosen mainly because Simcoe-Grey is the riding of MP Kellie Leitch, Harvey wrote.

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“Minister Leitch has made it known to her constituents and to the wider Canadian public that she is in favour of imposing 'Canadian Values' screening for newcomers to Canada. We felt it would be appropriate to take a measure of how her constituents might react to blatant racism in their streets,” Harvey explained.

Hate crimes specialist Dr. Barbara Perry, who was interviewed in the CBC episode, said her research doesn’t specifically mention Alliston, but noted small, homogeneous communities that experience demographic changes can become hotbeds for racist attitudes.

“When they see changes in their own community, in the makeup, they see an influx of newcomers … some people perceive it as a threat,” she said.

Perry said broader cultural messages, personal experiences of feeling disadvantaged, and negative experiences with minority groups can be among the reasons why people would develop those attitudes.

She added people deny racism exists in their community and country as a way to preserve the image of Canada as being inclusive and multiculturalism, but it is “absolutely” present.

“There is racism in our culture,” she said. “But I think that is not by any stretch the majority of the population.”