[1] The party initially claimed it was for equality of all citizens, but Whittaker was soon condemning Jews in his speeches at public rallies and in the party's newspaper, The Canadian Nationalist, and its other propaganda, leading to opponents confronting him at his rallies and being violently removed, often by police.
The organization was modelled on Nazi stormtroopers and would march through Winnipeg's streets wearing khaki shirts, light brown breeches, and riding boots.
[2][4] In response the CNP's antisemitic propaganda, the Manitoba legislature passed The Manitoba Defamation Act, the first group libel law in Canada, allowing a member of a racial or religious group that was being defamed to sue the author or publisher for a halt in the production of material.
"[2] Introduced by Independent Labour Party MLA Marcus Hyman, the legislature passed the bill into law by a unanimous vote in 1934.
[5] The CNP's Ontario chairman was Joseph C. Farr, a white Protestant immigrant from Northern Ireland who had been involved in Toronto's "Swastika Clubs", which had provoked the Christie Pits riot in 1934.