After federal Tory candidate Jamil Jivani won the recent byelection in Ontario’s Durham riding, his speech targeted not only the rival Liberals but also, unexpectedly, Ontario’s ruling Progressive Conservatives. He is especially critical of the “anti-racism” taught in Ontario schools.
Race and gender are among sensitive topics federal and provincial conservatives alike had often been reluctant to speak strongly about in the past. But that has been changing, with senior Conservative leaders speaking up more on these touchy social issues in recent months.
For example, federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre made an unusually strong statement on gender identity when he told reporters on Feb. 7 that he is against minors receiving puberty blockers. His party’s grassroots members are behind him on this issue, as signalled by resolutions they passed at the party’s convention in September last year.
Similarly, the United Conservative Party grassroots in Alberta pushed for a firmer stance on the same issues during its convention last November. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in January announced the strictest policies in Canada against minors receiving medical interventions, and against gender identity teaching in schools.
Conservative leaders not only have their party grassroots spurring them along, recent public opinion polls also show the electorate is behind a stronger position on these issues.
For example, a Nanos poll commissioned by CTV published on March 7 shows that more than half of Canadians are uncomfortable with transgender policies, such as those related to sports participation and medical treatments for minors.
Mr. Jivani is one among a number of new federal Conservative recruits who have spoken strongly on hot-button issues. Other candidates with a similar record who have joined the party as candidates in the past year include filmmaker Aaron Gunn, who has been outspoken against accusations of “systemic racism” in Canada, as well as former Ontario MPP Roman Baber and former acting medical officer of health Dr. Matt Strauss, who have both slammed COVID-19 mandates.
Jamil Jivani, then-Ontario's Advocate for Community Opportunities, speaks as Ontario Premier Doug Ford, and Then-Minister of Children, Community, and Social Services Todd Smith listen in Toronto on June 4, 2020. (The Canadian Press/Rick Madonik-Pool)
Anti-Racism Education
In his March 4 victory speech, Mr. Jivani called out the “liberal elites” for betraying the working class. This includes the Tory’s federal rivals, the Liberals, he said, but also the Ontario Ministry of Education under the governing Progressive Conservatives (PCs).
Mr. Jivani expanded on his criticism in a March 7 interview with True North.
The Ontario PCs have upheld an education policy agenda focused on “virtue signalling” and “race politics,” he said. “[It’s] very similar to what you might have seen with a Liberal government in power.”
Premier Doug Ford clearly took notice of those comments. The following day, he spoke about Mr. Jivani during a press conference on housing. He said Mr. Jivani wouldn’t be where he is today had he not given him an “opportunity” in 2019 by naming him the province’s first Advocate for Community Opportunities.
Mr. Ford also appeared eager to demonstrate he is a true conservative, following Mr. Jivani’s slight likening of his government to the Liberals. He slammed the carbon tax and highlighted his promise to get tough on crime.
Anti-racism and equity initiatives have taken hold in many ways under the Ford government. For example, Ontario school boards have greatly increased spending on staff dedicated to equity, diversity, and inclusion, with two boards spending over $2 million each annually on it.
The Ford government supported a bill introduced by the NDP in December 2021 seeking to embed anti-racism into all aspects of the provincial curriculum. The bill died on the order table, however, when Mr. Ford called an election in May 2022.
But Education Minister Stephen Lecce did make a strong statement against a development in this direction recently, perhaps also part of the trend of conservatives taking a stronger stance. He told the Toronto District School Board to scrap a controversial guidance document distributed internally to teachers.
It was a guide for classroom discussions on injustice. It claimed that Ontario’s public education system is based on “white supremacy” and is designed only for the benefit of those who are “white, middle-upper class, male, Christian, cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied, neurotypical.”
Mr. Lecce told the board in late February not to use it, saying there was “no place for divisive ideologies” in schools.
Mr. Jivani, a past president of the non-profit Canada Strong & Free Network, has been an outspoken critic against critical race theory being taught in Canadian classrooms. The neo-Marxist ideology of critical race theory is essentially what is taught as “anti-racism” in schools. It sees racism as systemic and places emphasis on racial identity.
While the ideology’s proponents say it’s a way to combat racism by analyzing how racial inequality is facilitated, Mr. Jivani has called it “divisive” politics that’s “actively pitting communities against each other on the basis of skin colour.”
Around the start of the school year, both Mr. Lecce and Mr. Ford spoke out about gender identity issues in schools as well. It’s “not up to the school board to indoctrinate our kids,” Mr. Ford said. Regarding schools keeping gender transitioning secret from parents, Mr. Lecce said that “parents must be fully involved and fully aware of what’s happening in the life of their children.”
The Ford government has said, however, that it does not plan to legislate on these issues.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford delivers remarks at Lakeshore Collegiate Institute in Toronto, on Aug. 31, 2023. (The Canadian Press/Spencer Colby)
Gender Ideology
The federal Conservative leadership has effectively been compelled to confront gender issues, despite the party’s messaging generally tending to focus more on economic and cost-of-living issues, such as the carbon tax.
During the Conservative Party convention in September 2023, 69 percent of delegates voted in favour of a policy proposal to ban drug treatments and surgery on minors under 18 to address gender confusion or dysphoria. And 87 percent voted to support a policy proposal that limits the use of women-only spaces and female sports to biological women.
The votes came after months of heated cross-country debates on gender ideology. Discussions were specifically around whether children should have access to medical interventions, like puberty blockers and surgery, and whether schools should teach about gender diversity.
That debate culminated in the cross-Canada “Million Person March” on Sept. 20, 2023, a movement opposed to child indoctrination and gender ideology. A month before the event, Mr. Poilievre told a reporter he believed that “parental rights come before the government’s right” and that he understood parents who were “frustrated with government imposing contrary values on their children.”
However, Mr. Poilievre declined to comment on the issue the day of the march. He even sent a memo to Tory MPs asking them to “not talk to media or post on social media about this issue.”
In October 2023, several Conservative MPs told CBC Radio-Canada that the party was divided on how to approach issues of gender identity and diversity. Some feared the polarizing subject could turn away some voters and distract from the Tories’ focus on economic issues.
The Conservative leader was asked repeatedly to comment on the issue in February after Alberta Premier Smith proposed new education and health policies around gender identity issues. New rules include banning gender-altering surgery for children, disallowing puberty blockers for those under 16, and requiring parental consent if a child wants to change pronouns at school.
When asked about Alberta’s policies at a Feb. 6 press conference on crime, Mr. Poilievre accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of “distracting and dividing Canadians” and said parents should be able to raise kids and “let provinces run schools and hospitals.”
The next day, in response to media questions about his stance on puberty blockers for those under 18, he said he was against giving these treatments to minors.
“I think we should protect children and let them make adult decisions when they become adults,” he said.
At a Feb. 21 press conference, Mr. Poilievre also said he is opposed to biological males competing in women’s sports and using women’s bathrooms. “Female spaces should be exclusively for females, not for biological males,” he said.
The Nanos poll, which was conducted from Feb. 28 to March 2, found about 57 percent of respondents have some discomfort with transgender athletes competing in female sports.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks in Ottawa on Feb. 5, 2024. (The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick)
Immigration
While Mr. Poilievre has put housing affordability at the core of his economic message, he hesitated to directly discuss its link to high immigration until last summer.
In August 2023, Mr. Poilievre promised a “common sense” immigration policy that would be built around the number of vacancies in the private sector, the number of charities that can sponsor refugees, and family reunification. He refrained from commenting on the government’s immigration targets but said he would ensure newcomers have housing and health care if he becomes prime minister.
Amid the country’s housing affordability crisis, Canada’s population grew by more than a million people in 2022, which included over 607,000 non-permanent residents and over 437,000 immigrants. The feds plan to admit approximately 500,000 new permanent residents per year until 2026.
In a year-end interview with True North, Mr. Poilievre went further in his comments on immigration. He said it was “very simple math” that increasing the number of incomers without ensuring adequate housing would drive up housing prices.
“The growth in immigration should not exceed the amount of housing stock we add, the number of doctors we add, and the available jobs,” he said, adding that his immigration targets would be “mathematically driven.”
Mr. Poilievre’s switch to more openly discussing the impact of immigration on housing came as Canadians’ attitudes toward the issue also shifted.
A December 2023 Nanos poll found that 61 percent of Canadians want Canada to accept fewer immigrants, compared to 53 percent last September and 34 percent last March. Only 5 percent of respondents in the December poll said they wanted to accept more immigrants, compared to 17 percent in 2020.
