A wave of parental rights protests across Canada this week – the One Million Man March for Kids – highlighted a growing divide between the progressive elites and ordinary parents, including what could prove to be a politically consequential split in the coalition that the Trudeau Liberals depend on to secure and maintain power.
With pro-LGBT activists facing off against angry Muslim moms and dads, Trudeau, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, and their obedient coalition caucus saw different factions of their own voting base confronting each other. Predictably, Trudeau, Singh, and nearly the entire press corps backed the LGBT activists.
It appears that the federal Conservative Party is waking up to the fact that parental rights are supported by a super-majority of Canadians. On September 20, Liberal and NDP politicians were out in force condemning the protestors across the country, with Singh joining LGBT counter-protestors in Ottawa. Trudeau chimed in with one of his self-righteous tweets: “Let me make one thing very clear: Transphobia, homophobia, and biphobia have no place in this country. We strongly condemn this hate and its manifestations, and we stand united in support of 2SLGBTQI+ Canadians across the country – you are valid and you are valued.”
He entirely ignored the actual slogan of the protests: “Leave our kids alone!” Neither Trudeau nor Singh bothered to respond to the concerns being expressed by parents,
Over the next 48 hours, Canadian commentators from all sides of the spectrum called on Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre to comment on the protests – especially after media reports indicating that an internal memo had gone out to Conservative MPs instructing them not to speak about the marches. The Liberals and NDP insisted that this was evidence of Poilievre’s insufficient support for the LGBT community; conservatives wondered why the Conservative Party was refusing to take the opportunity to back a cause with widespread support. Poll after poll has indicated that Canadians support parental rights by wide margins – Angus Reid reported that 78 percent of Canadians believe that parents should be told if children want to “socially transition.”
It seems that Poilievre – after months of conspicuous silence – has decided to speak out. Responding to Trudeau’s lazy smear of the parent protestors across the country, he tweeted: “Justin Trudeau always divides to distract from all he has broken. This time, he is demonizing concerned parents. Parents should be the final authority on the values and lessons that are taught to children. Trudeau should butt out and let parents raise their kids.”
