Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is leaning into his banking background as his country fights a trade war with the United States, but his financial ties have also made him a target for conspiracy theories.
Incorporating tropes familiar to followers of the far-right QAnon movement, conspiratorial social media posts about the Liberal leader have surged ahead of the country’s April 28 election.
Posts range from false claims he recited a “satanic chant” at a campaign event to AI-generated images of him in a pool with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“He’s the ideal person to be targeted here, for sure, due to his background, as well as his financial work,” said Ahmed Al-Rawi, an associate professor of communications at Canada’s Simon Fraser University.
Before serving as governor of both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, Carney had a lucrative career as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs.
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