Pressure from supporters of Israel led, in September 2025, to St. Paul's Bloor Street Anglican Church in Toronto cancelling a rental of the church's hall where Engler had intended to hold a campaign rally, three days before the event.[8] Legal counsel for the church stated that the event would be a "blatant violation" of their safe use policy, which prohibits any partisan political activity.[8]
As of October 2025, Engler had not submitted his application to the New Democratic Party so that he could be vetted and become an official candidate. The NDP's chief electoral officer, Éric Hébert-Daly, stated at the time that Engler "has no current standing within the leadership contest".[9] Hébert-Daly also indicated that Engler may be violating party rules by raising campaign funds without the donations being processed through the party.[10]
Views
Haiti
Engler presenting Pierre Pettigrew with a copy of the "Griffin Report on Human Rights Abuses in Haiti"
Engler was critical of Canada's role in the 2004 Haitian coup d'état. In June 2005, he interrupted a press conference being held by then-Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pierre Pettigrew. Engler poured a bottle of cranberry juice onto Pettigrew and said, "Pettigrew lies, Haitians die".[11] The juice was meant to represent the blood Engler said was on the hands of the Canadian government due to its alleged involvement in the 2004 coup and subsequent United Nations peacekeeping mission.[12]
In 2016, Engler wrote an essay for the Huffington Post, titled "'Anti Semitism': The Most Abused Word in Canada".[15] A week later, Canadian Jewish News editor Yoni Goldstein criticized the text in an opinion piece. He concluded that Engler "has seriously misjudged the state of anti-Semitism in Canada today".[16] Engler has said that the charge of antisemitism is wrongly used to shut down criticism of Israel and that he strongly condemns real antisemitism.[17]
Legal issues
In 2002, a student tribunal found Engler guilty of assault and vandalism for his part in the Concordia University Netanyahu riot. He was fined $500 and expelled for one term. Engler said he did not assault anyone or commit any vandalism during the riot.[4] His attempt to appeal the suspension was rejected by the Supreme Court of Canada.[18] Engler's suspension was later made permanent when he violated a ban on political activity, imposed by the university in the aftermath of the riot, by handing out anti-FTAA pamphlets on university grounds.[5]
In 2006, Engler pleaded guilty to forgery and was fined $100.[19]
In 2022, he was charged with assault and causing a disturbance near a public place but was acquitted after agreeing to stay out of trouble for 12 months.[19]
In February 2025, Engler was accused of repeatedly communicating with two individuals, including a police officer, with intent to harass, and of obstructing a police officer in the execution of their duties.[19] Two of the charges were dropped in July, but a trial date in November 2025 was scheduled for the other four charges.[20]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
