Maple Ridge restaurant says it was harassed after hosting Poilievre

A Maple Ridge, B.C., restaurant says it faced online harassment after hosting Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and a group of local party supporters last week.

Source: X

A Maple Ridge, B.C., restaurant says it faced online harassment after hosting Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and a group of local party supporters last week.

Veronica Reale, who runs Ronny’s Bistro, said the backlash included one-star Google reviews, slanderous online comments, and calls for a boycott after she posted about the visit on social media.

“This was scary for me, it was very bad,” Reale told the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows News.

Poilievre made what the outlet described as a low-profile stop in Maple Ridge on Friday evening, January 9. The gathering was hosted by Pitt Meadows–Maple Ridge Conservative MP Marc Dalton at the restaurant, located in an industrial park on River Road.

Reale said she is not politically active and accepted the booking solely as a business opportunity. She said about 40 Conservatives attended and paid for their food and beverages.

After the event, Reale made a social media post about hosting Poilievre, one of Canada’s most prominent political figures. She said the reaction was immediate.

“After 40 minutes, I had to delete it,” she said.

Reale, originally from Italy, said she was surprised by the intensity of the response and said she did not expect hosting a political meeting would trigger retaliation.

“I’m not political, and I didn’t know it could be so bad, just hosting a meeting,” she said.

Dalton condemned the online attacks, calling the harassment an example of “cancel culture.”

“Cancel culture has real and devastating impacts. When businesses are harassed or threatened over political disagreement, livelihoods are put at risk and communities are harmed,” Dalton said. “Small businesses should never become collateral damage for someone else’s outrage. Hosting a meeting does not justify intimidation or online abuse.”

Dalton also called for public support for the restaurant in a post on X.

“Unfortunate and unacceptable. Hope people will go out of their way to support this single-mom owned and run business!” Dalton wrote.

Conservative MP Brad Vis also condemned the backlash, calling it unfair to target a business for hosting a political event.

“This lady is just trying to run her business. My political association regularly books restaurants without issue. This is disgraceful,” Vis wrote on X.