No evidence that ‘leaked’ email from a Canadian politician is authentic

Social media users are resurfacing a chain email alleging that the Canadian government is using the COVID-19 pandemic as a cover to eliminate all debt, impose a police state, “reset” the economy and seize private property. 

The email message, which social media users copied and posted to Facebook, purports to be a “leak” from an anonymous Liberal Party politician. It details a long list of harsh measures to combat the coronavirus, including mandatory vaccines, lockdowns, travel restrictions and the deployment of the military into major cities. According to the email, these measures will culminate with the total seizure of all Canadian private property.

As part of the final phase of its COVID-19 response, “the federal government will offer to eliminate all personal debts (mortgages, loans, credit cards, etc) which all funding will be provided to Canada by the (International Monetary Fund) under what will become known as the World Debt Reset program,” the message claims. “In exchange for acceptance of this total debt forgiveness the individual would forfeit ownership of any and all property and assets forever.”

The message further alleges that individuals who do not agree with the plan will be “relocated into isolation facilities” and detained there until they agree to have their property seized. 

The post with the text of the purported email was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

There’s no evidence that the email is genuine, and its claims have no basis in fact. 

The email purports to come from a member of a “Strategic Planning Committee” steered by the Prime Minister’s Office. However, spokespeople from Canada’s ruling Liberal Party and the Prime Minister’s Office both told us that there is no Strategic Planning Committee. 

“The post that you have referenced and others with the same content are not authentic, and no such committee exists,” said Braeden Caley, senior director of communications for the Liberal Party. 

The “leaker” of the email doesn’t provide any identification or proof of the claims. In addition, the email’s predictions of sweeping lockdown restrictions and business closures implemented simultaneously across all of Canada haven’t come to pass. Instead, Canadian provincial and territorial governments have imposed varying restrictions over the course of the pandemic in response to local case rates. 

Links to the “Great Reset” theory

The email’s claims about Canada’s COVID-19 response mirror what has come to be referred to as the “Great Reset” conspiracy theory.

The theory essentially holds that a group of “global elites want to use the coronavirus as a tool to reorganize global societies and economies to their benefit at the expense of ordinary people, with the ultimate goal of a global totalitarian regime,” according to the Anti-Defamation League. 

There is no evidence to support this widely debunked theory, which has also been linked with the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory. 

The Great Reset theory gets its name from proposals put forth by two international organizations — the World Economic Forum and the International Monetary Fund — to combat economic inequality 

In June 2020, the WEF proposed a “great reset” on capitalism to combat the way the pandemic was contributing to global economic inequality. It encouraged reforms to fiscal policy, industrial development and an economic system where corporations no longer sought to maximize shareholder profits at the expense of their workers and communities. 

Similarly, the IMF advocated a “Global Economic Reset,” which aimed to promote an equitable recovery from the pandemic through time-limited debt suspensions for poor countries and public investments in health care. 

Neither organization has advocated the seizure of private property or the creation of a totalitarian world government. 

Our ruling

Facebook posts claim that a leaked email from a liberal party politician shows the Canadian government’s plan to “reset” the economy and seize private property. 

The email claims to come from a member of the “Strategic Planning Committee” of Canada, but no such committee exists.

The claim echoes a widely debunked conspiracy theory known as the “Great Reset.” 

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