The Star and BuzzFeed News are investigating the ways political parties, third-party pressure groups, foreign powers and individuals are influencing Canada’s political debate in the run-up to this fall’s federal election. This is the first report.Like many people who’ve worked in Alberta’s oilsands, Craig Collins is concerned about the future of the industry and his own employment.So to earn additional income, Collins developed a lucrative side-hustle building job ad websites and growing their associated Facebook presence. He’s earned more than $50,000 building and flipping job search websites over the past three years.But as the employment dried up in the oilsands, so too did his ability to create online businesses built around advertising those jobs. Late last year Collins launched a new website, YellowVestGroup.com and began promoting it on a Facebook page and group he created.Sharing Islamophobic memes along with images of the so-called “yellow vest” anti-carbon tax protests in Canada, the page attracted more than 7,600 fans while the associated Facebook group had more than 2,700 members. Collins kept his name off of the site and used fake profiles to manage the associated Facebook presence. But a Toronto Star/BuzzFeed News investigation uncovered how he applied internet marketing skills to capitalize on the yellow vest movement’s social media presence.Read more: Yellow vests in Canada bear no resemblance to protesters in France, says ambassadorCanada’s yellow vest movement looks like it’s here to stay — but what is it really about?Opinion | Susan Delacourt: Justin Trudeau ventures to where old Canada meets newHe funnelled followers from two Facebook pages and a group to the related website that earns revenue from ads, as well as to an online store where they could buy t-shirts, mugs, and stickers with yellow vest slogans.In his effort to promote what he considered “real news,” Col ...
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