With Coffee… Mitch Garber | Twitter Vigilance

He presents to the public the skin of Pierre Poilievre, like Jean-Francois Lize or Pierre Carl Pelado. He’s a multi-millionaire who invests mostly overseas, but says he’s happy living in Montreal and paying a mountain of taxes in Quebec.

Who is this funny thug? This is Mitch Garber, the exceptional Anglo-Quebecer, who has been churning out scathing comments on Twitter, where he has 43,600 subscribers. The businessman became very popular among French speakers after appearing on the show In the eye of the dragonBetween 2015 and 2017.

I meet with Mitch Garber in his cozy offices on Stanley Street near Sherbrooke in downtown Montreal. Mitch Garber greets me in a spacious room adjacent to his office dominated by a coffee bar worthy of Montreal’s fine bistros.

A favorite topic: her bulimic use of Twitter, which came under fire after the social network was taken over by libertarian billionaire Elon Musk. He loves the media, not least because he says it “can’t be misquoted.”

Day after day, Mitch Garber points out inconsistencies in tweets by personalities, especially politicians. Or, he simply expresses his displeasure, often in a “crying” tone.

In Guy Nantel, October 28:

“Guy Nantel, who has a very thin skin and blocks everyone, should understand that no one is questioning his right to freedom of expression. We are free to point out that autism jokes and Massé/Hitler comparisons are classless, outdated and offensive. »

In response to Sophie Durocher defending Guy Nantel on October 27:

“Why is everyone so excited? It’s not like he said hi/hello! What anger creates a month Introduction. He only made fun of autism and compared Manon Massey to Hitler. Forget it. »

On Pierre Poilievre, who claimed on October 23 that the Trudeau government wants to triple the carbon tax on heating: “Journalists can ask him to show us how it would work using an actual heating bill. Or do we let him talk nonsense? »

Are you looking for a genre? Mitch Garber is a provocateur, far from the wooden language of politicians.

During our meeting 1^er In November, he planned to moderate his speeches to be less strident since his recent investiture in the Order of Canada, but it’s clear he can’t help it.

In this regard, Mitch Garber judges that Paul St-Pierre Plamondon of the Parti Québécois and Eric Duhaime of the Conservative Party, even if they are not part of his natural political family, are not distorting the facts.

His harsh tweets aren’t hurting his business, he says. However, he is in business, brewing a lot.

The entrepreneur is a major shareholder in dozens of companies, in addition to holding stakes in 23 other companies and 25 investment funds, most of which are outside Canada.

He is also a member of the management committee of Seattle Kraken, a new NHL team in the American West in which he is a shareholder, and sits on the board of directors of seven companies.

He buys stakes in companies that need a turnaround. “Being in companies excites me, I love it. This is my medicine, ”says the lawyer by training.

Mitch Garber hit one of the financial houses in 2016 when he sold mobile gaming firm Playtika. Later, he made almost 300 million in profits, and he did not hesitate to say publicly that he paid 100 million dollars in taxes and was satisfied with that.

Given Elon Musk’s arrival, isn’t he planning to leave Twitter?

“This is one more reason to stay on Twitter. There is room for ideas that override lies and alternative, aggressive facts. […] I hope we can slow the tide that has been moving to the right in the US so far,” Mitch Garber, who hates anonymous Twitter accounts that undermine the network’s credibility, tells me.

The polemicist says he opposes Law 21 on the secularism of the State and Law 96 on the French, and is not shy about denouncing aspects he finds troubling on Twitter.

At the same time, comments by Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau, who said last year that he could live well without speaking French in Montreal, were shocking. “It embarrassed me,” he said.

Mitch Garber, who was born in Montreal to Montreal-born parents, describes himself first as a Montrealer and then as a Canadian overseas, though he says he is proud to live in Quebec.

“I’m Jewish, I’ve already lived in Israel and I speak Hebrew,” he adds to show his multicultural character. He is very religious, married to a French-speaking Catholic, and his children observe the major Catholic and Jewish holidays (Christmas, Yom Kippur, etc.).

In terms of his positions, Mitch Garber is clearly a liberal and a federalist. Although he once voted for the Conservative Party under Brian Mulroney, he does not deny it. “Tomorrow I’m voting 1,000% for Trudeau-Freeland-Champagne over Poilievre,” he said.

Dominique does not want to run for the head of the PLQ, released by Anglade? “No, I’m not keen enough to be involved in politics and I have a more free life,” he replies.

Mitch Garber confirms that he is often contacted by state and federal parties, that there were open doors for him in the PLQ in the last election and even in the CAQ a few years ago, but he always turned them down.

Before the interview ends, he wants to tell me about his philanthropic commitment. In recent years, he said, he has been involved in raising $200 million for Quebec charities, notably as a former president of Centraide — in addition to $130 million for the CJA Federation, whose mission is to “preserve and enhance the quality of Jewish life.” In Montreal, in Israel and the world”.

“The capitalist system is the worst system in the world, he says it’s more social in Quebec and Canada. I didn’t steal my money, but to be fair, you have to give it back because the taxes are not enough. »

One can disagree with Mitch Garber’s views, but one cannot fault him for being adept at amorphous and alternative facts. Just the kind Elon Musk must love.