The federal government says it’s selling off a stockpile of books authored by a notorious U.S. conspiracy theorist primarily to keep them out of the landfill.
Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) is in charge of selling surplus assets such as office equipment, vehicles and other unwanted items for federal government departments and agencies.
Listed for public auction on its website GCSurplus are 47 copies of The Great Reset and the War for the World by alt-right radio host Alex Jones, for a minimum bid of $200. The auction ends April 4.
The description says the books were forfeited to the Crown and have been “carefully wrapped in bubble wrap and boxed for shipping.”
According to the description, the books are located in Edmonton and “viewing is highly recommended.”
Photos of the books are included with the listing. According to a description visible on the book’s jacket, “the most controversial man on earth Alex Jones gives you a full analysis of The Great Reset, the global elite’s international conspiracy to enslave humanity and all life on the planet.”
Little additional information is offered about the content of the books.
Jones and his media empire Infowars were recently ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for promoting false conspiracy theories, including debunked claims about the Sandy Hook school massacre that killed 20 first graders and six educators.
Jones’s prominent radio and online shows are infamous for promoting alt-right conspiracy theories.
‘There are some questions’
Carmen Celestini, a post-doctoral fellow at Queen’s University studying conspiracy theories and extremism, said she was “kind of shocked” to learn the books are for sale by the Canadian government.
“There are some questions,” she said. “Providing that book, selling it and being attached to the government is interesting, given that Justin Trudeau is sort of the nexus of the Great Reset here in Canada for many of the conspiracy theorists because of his involvement with the World Economic Forum.”
The Great Reset is a popular conspiracy theory about a global plot to subjugate the world’s population.
On the other hand, Celestini said she can see why the government wanted to treat the books like any other surplus item.
“If they didn’t put it out then they get called out for censorship or something,” she said.
In a statement, PSPC said the sale of surplus items “helps support the reuse of goods and keep usable items out of landfills.”
It’s not clear how the books came to be in the government’s possession, but PSPC suggested they may have been seized by authorities.
“Assets like these have typically been forfeited to the Crown as a result of regulatory or criminal enforcement action either at border control points or within Canada,” it said.
As of Thursday, one week before the auction was set to close, there were no bids.