Sask. Party candidate resigns after online activity linked to QAnon supporters surfaces

Saskatchewan Party candidate Daryl Cooper has resigned his nomination ahead of Saskatchewan’s provincial election.

Cooper, a candidate for the Saskatoon Eastview riding, resigned after now-deleted social media posts and interactions linked to conspiracy group QAnon surfaced online.

“The content and views that Mr. Cooper interacted with on social media are concerning and are not representative of the values of the Saskatchewan Party, our leader, or our members. As such the Saskatchewan Party accepted his resignation,” a statement from the Saskatchewan Party read.

“A new candidate will be named in the coming days.”

Earlier on Saturday, party leader Scott Moe was asked about Cooper’s online activity during a campaign announcement in Prince Albert.

“This is concerning,” Moe said after finding out about the posts Friday evening.

“This is something that we’re taking a very thorough look at. This government continues to get their medical health advice from Dr. Shahab and his team.”

Cooper’s social media posts were discovered and detailed Friday evening on Twitter by Press Progress — a left-wing online publication funded by the Broadbent Institute that calls itself “a counter-balance to corporate ownership in Canadian media and the growing influence of right-wing think tanks.”

The online story includes three tweets where Cooper is interacting with QAnon supporters.

QAnon is a far-right conspiracy theory promoted online claiming that “deep-state” enemies are plotting against U.S. President Donald Trump, among other things.

Supporters of the group also allege well-known liberal leaders are Satan-worshipping pedophiles who run the world and operate a child sex-trafficking ring. They further believe that Trump is the only man capable of stopping them.

One post published by Press Progress shows a Tweet liked by Cooper from a user who calls Trump “Big Kahuna” and claimed to decode a secret message by looking at connections between Twitter posts by Trump and QAnon supporters.

Another post published by Press Progress shows a Tweet that appeared to be liked by Cooper’s official Twitter account.

The account named “Save the Children” frequently posts QAnon conspiracy theories.

“Satan is ruling the world,” the Tweet reads. “His time is 1,000 year reign his time is almost up and remember as soon as there is a worldwide announcement claiming world peace and security is the start of the great tribulation.”

A Facebook post from Cooper’s official campaign account in May was also published by Press Progress. It touts several unproven theories on the origin of COVID-19, including the coronavirus being a biological weapon from China and it being “a diabolical plan by the deep state.”

650 CKOM was unable to locate the Tweets and Facebook posts. It appears all of them have been removed.