On November 5, federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre hosted a meet and greet in Richmond Hill, Ontario, with former Conservative MP Costas Menegakis. In his short speech, Poilievre emphasized – once again – his support for parental rights. “Justin Trudeau does not have the right to impose his radical gender ideology on our kids and on our schools,” he told the crowd.
After initially telling Conservative caucus members not to speak on the issue as parental rights protests unfolded across the country, Poilievre came out in support of the parents on September 22. “Justin Trudeau always divides to distract from all he has broken. This time, he is demonizing concerned parents,” he tweeted. “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.”
This position, as I’ve noted several times in this space, has proven (understandably) hugely popular with Canadian parents, with the premiers of at least five Canadian provinces publicly committing to defend parental rights.
Trudeau, for his part, has remained consistent in his defence of the LGBT movement’s hold on Canadian public schools and has condemned parental rights legislation as an attack on the LGBT movement. Despite his obvious discomfort at taking a position that has proven tremendously unpopular in immigrant communities that usually vote Liberal, his commitment to the LGBT cause hasn’t wavered. Trudeau has few principles, but on this issue – and abortion – he has never budged.
Now, Trudeau’s Liberals have decided to go all in and attack Poilievre for his position on parental rights. On November 9, they posted a clip of his November 5 speech with the caption: “America’s far-right is bullying vulnerable kids to score political points. Pierre Poilievre is bringing their politics here to Canada.” The Liberal attack ad features Poilievre saying “Justin Trudeau does not have the right to impose his radical gender ideology on our kids,” with the question: “Sound familiar?”
The video then cuts to a series of American politicians using similar phrases: Donald Trump saying “left-wing gender insanity being pushed on our children”; Florida Governor Ron DeSantis saying “woke gender ideology being pushed in their curriculums”; Mike Pence referring to “radical gender ideology,” as well as quotes from Vivek Ramaswamy, Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, and Mike Johnson. Then, the sinister close quote: “PIERRE POILIEVRE IS BRINGING FAR-RIGHT, AMERICAN-STYLE POLITICS TO CANADA.”
This, you might recall, was Trudeau’s tactic when speaking to concerned Muslim parents – he brushed off their concerns as a result of American misinformation. A Muslim man wanting to pass his values on to his child, according to Trudeau, is actually wanting to pass on American values to his children. Despite the transgender movement’s tremendous power in Canada, Trudeau would like Canadians to believe that merely mentioning the ideology of this movement is somehow “far-right” or “American-style.” The cat, unfortunately for him, is already out of the bag thanks to New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs – and I think it’ll take a lot more than this lazy guilt-by-association to persuade Canadians parents that parental rights are not in their best interests.
The entire premise of the ad is ridiculous. The fact that other politicians in a neighboring country have spoken about an issue currently dividing nearly every Western country does not mean that Pierre Poilievre is Donald Trump, as Trudeau’s Liberals wish to imply. This is a “Hitler liked dogs, that guy likes dogs, that guy is like Hitler” argument, and it’s pretty pathetic.
Not too pathetic for former radio host and liberal commentator Charles Adler, of course. He tweeted out the ad, seething: “Canada’s Conservative leader, who wants to a PM when he grows up, is an impersonation of the moral basement dwellers, populating Republican America.” Unfortunately for the Liberals, they already had his vote.
