Artur Pawlowski, a Canadian pastor celebrated by American conservatives as a symbol of religious freedom for bucking that country’s public safety orders, joined far-right podcaster Ethan Ralph’s show last Wednesday, where he announced that he will run for political office in Alberta.
“I have not made this public announcement, but I am going to run for political office as well here in the province of Alberta,” Pawlowski declared.
Ralph, host of the “Killstream” podcast, has granted a platform to extremists like white supremacist Lana Lokteff, failed neo-Nazi congressional candidate Patrick Little, and cult leader Gazi Kodzo, who recently was arrested after a dead body was found in his home. Ralph has also become friends with white nationalist Nick Fuentes and streams his podcast on Fuentes’ “anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-Black, antisemitic” platform, Cozy. The far-right podcaster has had his own run-ins with the law; he was convicted of assaulting a police officer in 2018 and of posting “revenge porn” of his then-18-year-old girlfriend earlier this year. According to court documents, Ralph has also violated the domestic violence restraining order she holds against him.
Nevertheless, Pawlowski has appeared on Ralph’s show “a ton,” according to Ralph.
Pawlowski was on “Killstream” most recently to discuss his recent successful legal appeal against contempt of court sanctions. Pawlowski had held church services during the height of the pandemic, flouting Alberta’s COVID-19-related public health mandates. Last Friday, the Alberta Court of Appeals ordered Pawlowski and his brother to be reimbursed more than $15,000 in fines, but Pawlowski remains under house arrest. In February, prosecutors alleged he incited violence at a trucker convoy protest.
On Wednesday’s show, Ralph played a video of Pawlowski’s son, Nathaniel Pawlowski, who claimed to have met with Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk and Donald Trump Jr. at a TPUSA event in Florida. “In fact, Donald Trump Jr. told me that we should all thank Pastor Artur, and that if everyone stood for freedom like he did, we wouldn’t be in this mess,” Nathaniel Pawlowski said.
Pawlowski veered into conspiratorial rhetoric early on in Ralph’s show, calling masks “muzzles” and police enforcing public health measures “the Gestapo.” He accused those who arrested and charged him of wanting to implement a “globalistic order” so “Bill Gates will become the biggest landowner on Earth.”
Later in the program, Pawlowski peddled the conspiracy theory that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in fact Fidel Castro’s son, claiming that Margaret Trudeau was “sleeping around with everyone like [a] monkey, with everyone that’s not running on a tree.”
When Ralph suggested that “them using COVID tyranny to silence you is kind of an extension of the battle against government,” Pawlowski agreed. He then used it as an opportunity to call immigrants crossing the Mexico-U.S. border “bandits,” and to call for politicians to be charged with treason.
“There were others who stood up, and they have become political prisoners,” Pawlowski said. “Everything we see right now is political, anyone that dares to oppose Biden administration, anyone who exposes [a] pedophilia ring, anyone that exposes what is happening at your border, Mexican border, where tens of thousands of illegal bandits—because that’s what they are, bandits—bandits are crossing your border because it’s completely unprotected. Anyone who dares to expose this treachery—because that's what it is, this is treachery. They should be charged, those politicians, should be charged with treason. They have betrayed our country, they should be charged with treason.”
Later in the program, a viewer asked for Pawlowski’s views on Pierre Poilievre, a right-wing candidate to lead Canada's Conservative Party. Pawlowski said he was disappointed in Poilievre and that Candaians needed a real leader—a leader like him.
“Where was he when we were hammered by authorities?” Pawlowski asked. “Where was he during the truck convoy? He talks the talk. But surely he was not willing to lay down his life for us when we were hammered without mercy. In comparison to Justin Trudeau Castro, yes, he is a saint, if you compare the devil with him. What I'm waiting for, I'm waiting for is a man who paid the price, who was willing to go all the way and was not holding punches, a hero who did pay the price, stood with the people, went with the people, and this kind of a character, this kind of a man this is what you need in a political arena.”
“I want to tell you something,” Pawlowski continued. “I have not made this public announcement, but I am going to run for political office as well here in the province of Alberta, because I’m sick and tired of being harassed, intimidated, and hunted down like a white tail by crooked politicians, so I guess if they’ve decided to chase me around and not allow me to a pastor, then I will become a politician and start chasing them for a change.”
While Pawlowski pushed back on some viewers’ statements calling for Christians to take away the rights of atheists and other non-Christians, Pawlowski agreed with another viewer who declared that “Theocracy is better than democracy.”
“That’s true,” he said. “Theocracy, what that means is that, Theo, from Greek god, is the king and head of state and we know he is a perfect judge, so in [an] ideal world, theocracy would be the perfect high because God is honest.”
He then added that democracy is “not that good at all.”
“However, we are living in a fallen world, so the second best—and it's not that good at all, but I mean we don’t have anything else—is democracy, so it is what it is, and we're stuck with it. And even though it's not perfect, it’s still not that bad if we have honest people in the places of power.”
Ralph closed out his interview with Pawlowski by applauding the pastor as a “legendary guest.”
“I love you man, I love your show,” Pawlowski replied. “I like that you are a freedom fighter. I really appreciate that you are willing to bring a man like me, a man of the cloth, into your show. I consider this a great privilege to be able to be on your show. So God bless you. Keep doing what you’re doing.”
“Keep fighting,” Pawlowski told the far-right podcaster.
