Conservative Party of Canada

Conservative Party of Canada Parti conservateur du Canada
Name	Conservative Party of Canada
Abbreviation	CPC (English) PCC (French)
Founded	2003-12-07
Merger of	Canadian Alliance (CRCA) Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC)
Location	Canada
Headquarters	Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Founders	Stephen Joseph Harper Peter Gordon MacKay
President	Robert Batherson
Leader	Erin Michael O'Toole
Deputy leader	Candice Marie Bergen
Senate leader	Donald Neil Plett
House leader	Gérard Deltell
Areas served	Canada
Membership	2020: 269,469
Ideology	Conservatism Economic liberalism Fiscal conservatism
Political position	Center-right to right-wing
Description	The Conservative Party of Canada, a federal political party in Canada, sits at the centre-right to the right of the Canadian political spectrum, with their federal rivals (Liberal Party of Canada) positioned to their left.
Website	Conservative.ca

Background

Transphobia

Smear Campaign Against Maxime Bernier and People's Party of Canada

Summary: Project Cactus was a politically motivated, Conservative Party of Canada sponsored smear campaign targeting People's Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier. The project was contracted to Warren Kinsella's   Daisy Consulting Group  [Daisy Group; local copy  |  Warren Kinsella biography], which developed and ran Project Cactus.

Note that the URL for Daisy Group - http://daisygroup.ca/ - uses the unsecure "http://...", not the secure "https://..." (which throws the warning shown in the screenshot, below) - likely so that the owner can surveil visitors to the website.


Insecure "https://daisygroup.ca/" URL.

Additional Reading

Newly elected Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre's recent rhetoric pandering to workers contradicts his long track record of attacking unions and dividing workers, experts say. Pierre Poilievre has spent much of his leadership campaign paying lip service to Canadian workers and claiming - without evidence - that workers support him. "The working class people are enthusiastic about my campaign," Poilievre tweeted earlier this year (2022).

Pierre Poilievre, a career politician, has also responded to criticism that his leadership campaign is promoting conspiracy theories by claiming he is defending the "working class" against "elites," like "politicians and bankers."

[ ... snip ... ]

Unionized workers are also at the forefront of securing significant wage hikes amid soaring inflation. And more young Canadian workers are showing interest in the labour movement, kickstarting union drives at places like Starbucks,   Indigo, and Sephora. However, Pierre Poilievre aggressively fought card-check legislation that would make it easier for workers to unionize in favour of a two-step process that gives employers more time to interfere in the union drive. Employers across Canada spend millions on union-busting lawyers, consultants and security firms to ensure union drives are unsuccessful.

Under Stephen Harper's Conservative government, Pierre Poilievre was one of the loudest supporters of the anti-union Bill C-377, a likely unconstitutional piece of legislation that tried to force Canadian labour unions to disclose all of their internal finances while big corporations would not have been subjected to the same rules.

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• In 2012, Pierre Poilievre advocated for a bill that would making paying union dues optional which culminated with the adoption of Conservative Party of Canada's Russ Hiebert's private members bill Bill C-377, An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act (labour organizations)  [Parliament of Canada, 2015, Bill C-377. An Act to amend the Income Tax Act (requirements for labour organizations)]. When asked if his advocacy was akin to right-to-work laws implemented in some parts of the United States, Pierre Poilievre was fine with the description but would rather describe it as "enhancement of workers rights and freedoms". [Source: Wikipedia]

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Pierre Poilievre is also a major proponent of bringing U.S. right-to-work laws to Canada. Right-to-Work laws weaken the labour movement by making it more difficult for unions to collect membership dues which pay for the collective bargaining process. Wages and benefits are lower on average in states with right-to-work laws. "I am the first federal politician to make a dedicated push toward this goal," Pierre Poilievre stated in 2013 about bringing right-to-work laws to Canada. "I am going to do my part to see that happens at the federal level and I would encourage provincial governments to do likewise." In 2012, Pierre Poilievre mounted a campaign to allow public sector workerspublic sector to opt out of paying union dues, a proposal that sought took aim at the Rand Formula  [Rand formula] - a rule stemming from a Canadian Supreme Court decision that allows unions to collect union dues.

"Pierre Poilievre represents a blend of right-wing populism,   economic nationalism, and libertarianism, and his labour legacy and policies reflect this," Brock University labour studies professor Simon Black told PressProgress, "This is how he can say "recognize and reward hard work by making it pay" but not mention the primary vehicle by which workers have improved the terms and conditions of work, that is labour unions." "Of course he has a history of supporting anti-union, "right-to-work" policy, which has racist roots in the Jim Crow South" [Jim Crow laws], Simon Black added.

Right-to-work laws were first championed in the United States by a 1930s Texas businessman and white supremacist Vance Muse. Vance Muse argued that right-to-work laws provide white workers with a means to "opt out" of union membership - and associating with Black workers. Martin Luther King Jr. thus recognized right-to-work laws as a threat to the civil rights movement and good jobs in 1964. "In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans such as 'right to work,'" Martin Luther King, Jr. said. "It is a law to rob us of our civil rights and job rights."

Pierre Poilievre also used xenophobic rhetoric arguing that "foreign" migrant workers were taking Canadian workers' jobs and driving down wages. Poilievre was Stephen Harper's Employment Minister while thousands of migrant workers had their work permits expire in 2015 which forced them to leave Canada, or remain as undocumented workers. "That's why they're called temporary foreign workers," Poilievre said about the looming deportations in 2015.

Migrant rights advocates condemned xenophobic rhetoric which . "While in the past racist headlines read "Immigrants are taking Canadian jobs," now they insist "Foreign workers are taking Canadian jobs." What's the difference?" wrote Migrant Workers Alliance for Change organizer Syed Hussan in 2014. "Full immigration status for all, full rights for all workers is the only way forward. Resist attempts to divide unemployed, migrant and poor people." With limited pathways to permanent residency and work permits tied to employers, migrant workers recently compared the temporary foreign worker program to 'systemic slavery'.

[ ... snip ... ]

[ ... snip ... ]

As distinct from Andrew Scheer,   Erin O'Toole, and his various rivals, Pierre Poilievre won by abandoning triangulation and instead leaning as hard as he could into ideology. The result was a campaign that broadcast its open support for the so-called Freedom Convoy  [Freedom Convoy 2022], reveled in its truculence toward the media, and struck populist notes on certain economic issues. At times, this approach seemed at least rhetorically effective, though at its silliest, Pierre Poilievre's gimmickry had all the kitsch weirdness of a Tim and Eric sketch. While incredibly successful in the context of a leadership race, it remains to be seen how such an approach will fare in a federal election - and whether Poilievre's lengthy history as a bona fide right-wing ideologue will actually represent the electoral Achilles' heel that Liberal Party strategists presume it does.

What is clear is that Canada's Conservative Party is about to undertake a somewhat novel experiment in narrative, messaging, and policy. For this reason, Pierre Poilievre's candidacy has elicited a new and tiresome round of pundit discourse concerned with the dangers of "populism,"  whether   Trumpism has finally come to Canada, and whether the victory of an overtly right-wing candidate [Pierre Poilievre signals the final, tragic death of some imagined breed of more chivalrous conservatism  [social conservatism in Canada].

The answer to the latter question - whatever genuine novelty can be found in Pierre Poilievre's political style - is a resounding no. Having been a member of parliament since 2004, the new Tory leader is about as thoroughly a creature of institutional conservatism as can possibly be imagined. Pierre Poilievre's overwhelming victory in the leadership race may have involved defeating a series of more ideologically cautious rivals, but Poilievre also received the backing of a large swath of sitting Tory MPs, several retired cabinet ministers, and even former prime minister Stephen Harper. Politically speaking, Pierre Poilievre is therefore proposing to take the Conservative Party of Canada rightward - to where the lion's share of Conservative Party of Canada members already are.

[ ... snip ... ]

Canadians who donated to the Ottawa convoy protest  [Freedom Convoy 2022] contributed more than $460,000 to Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidates - and many of them were donating to a federal political party for the first time - an analysis by CBC News shows. A comparison of donations to Conservative Party leadership contenders up to 2022-08-01 with the GiveSendGo crowdfunding campaign for the convoy protest found over 3,100 people who contributed to both campaigns, based on identical combinations of names and postal codes. The lion's share of convoy donors' leadership campaign donations went to Pierre Poilievre's campaign.

University of Alberta political science professor Jared Wesley said people involved in protest movements often get involved in politics. "People that are engaged will do both," he said. "So, yeah, it is possible that the convoy>electoral politics for the first time." While the number of people involved is small, Jared Wesley said it's "a lot more" than he would have expected and is in keeping with his own polling and research.

CBC's analysis found that convoy donors made up 4.2 per cent of the approximately 74,000 people who contributed to Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidates before 2022-08. Their donations represent 3.8 per cent of the $12.2 million in contributions made before 2022-08-01. Pierre Poilievre received over 70 per cent of the money contributed by convoy donors. Leslyn Lewis received 16 per cent of that money, while Roman Baber collected 12 per cent. Jean Charest, who sharply criticized Pierre Poilievre for supporting the convoy protest, received contributions from two convoy donors, while Scott Aitchison received 13 contributions.

Only one other political party - the People's Party of Canada (PPC)  [Maxime Bernier] - drew significant support from convoy donors over the first two quarters of this year (2022). The PPC received money from about 60 convoy donors. The Liberal Party of Canada received only one donation from a name matching one on the convoy donors list, as did the Green Party of Canada. Neither the Bloc Québécois nor the New Democratic Party received donations from any name matching one on the convoy donors list.

[ ... snip ... ]

The analysis also found that the convoy protest appears to have mobilized a number of Canadians who weren't very active in federal politics to contribute to the Conservative Party of Canada leadership campaign - something that could be a factor in Canadian politics going forward. A closer look at 50 of the top donors to the convoy who also donated to a leadership candidate shows that 25 of them have no previous record of donating to any federal political party or candidate in the Elections Canada contributions database, which goes back to 2004. Of those 25 convoy donors, 22 donated to Pierre Poilievre, two donated to Leslyn Lewis, and one sent money to Roman Baber. Eleven of those 25 new donors are from British Columbia, eight are from Ontario, four are from Alberta, one is from Nova Scotia, and one is from Saskatchewan.

[ ... snip ... ]

[ ... snip ... ]

It's also to point out that Pierre Poilievre has been around long enough to have learned a few tricks from former Prime Minister Stephen Harper and current Alberta premier Jason Kenney, for whom Poilievre interned back in the day. Poilievre's a chip off the old block when it comes to the toxic repartee seemingly favoured by the Conservative Party of Canada faithful these days. Indeed, Poilievre's candidacy has prompted even conservative columnists to offer the view that the Conservative Party has gone to hell in a handbasket. In a video released Saturday [2022-02-12] to announce his bid "to be Prime Minister of Canada," Poilievre seemed to be hitching his wagon to the motley crew of anti-vaxxers and anti-government types that have been laying siege to Ottawa as part of the so-called "Freedom Convoy  [Freedom Convoy 2022]." It's not clear if the selection of books on the shelf behind Poilievre were intended to impart a subliminal message to those watching, but George Orwell's  Nineteen Eighty-Four ("1984") and selections on Julius Caesar and Ronald Reagan were clearly visible.

Pierre Poilievre's reputation precedes him. Poilievre was closely identified with the social conservative wing of the Conservative Party of Canada early in his political career. That Poilievre has found himself in the past on the wrong side of same-sex marriage and LGBTQ rights compared to most Canadians - and then flip-flopped - is a matter of public record. His views on abortion have been similarly changeable. Whether that's a good thing for the party's electoral prospects in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal - all areas the Conservative Party of Canada failed to win in the last election  [2021 Canadian federal election] - is up for party members to decide, if it ever gets to that point for Poilievre. But his stock in trade is austerity.

[ ... snip ... ]

At this point, it's clear that the Freedom Convoy was more a delusional attempt to overthrow the current government. And despite public sympathy for lifting COVID-19 restrictions, foreign funding for the effort (including from the Trump Organization) is creating its own blowback for Pierre Poilievre's leadership prospects. According to Angus Reid's latest poll released on Wednesday [2022-02-16], four in five Canadians fear that the domestic turmoil in the U.S. over vaccines and vaccine mandates spells trouble for Canada's economy and national security. Seven in 10 Canadians don't believe the U.S. can survive another Trump term as president. Those are daunting numbers for people like Pierre Poilievre who want to turn the Conservative Party of Canadainto the Republican party of Canada  [c.f. U.S. Republican Party].

[ ... snip ... ]

2021 was a difficult rough year for Canada's Conservatives, as the party's sitting members, time and time again, let anti-LGBTQ, anti-abortion, anti-vaccine and anti-lockdown views slip. Here's a round up of some of the highlights detailed, throughout 2021, by PressProgress

Conversion Therapy

The Canadian federal government's conversion therapy ban makes it a criminal offence to coerce an individual into programs which promise to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. While that sounds uncontroversial, some in the Conservative party opposed the legislation. MP Garnett Genuis used resources from his MP office to produce a video defending conversion therapy, claiming a conversion therapy ban would actually discriminated against LGBTQ people.

The Canadian Parliament passed Bill C-4, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (conversion therapy) in 2021-12. The House of Commons gave unanimous consent to pass the bill at all stages on 2021-12-01, and the Senate followed on 2021-12-07. Bill C-4 received royal assent the following day on 2021-12-08. The bill imposes criminal penalties on anyone causing another person to undergo conversion therapy (including adults, unlike earlier versions of the bill), removing a child from Canada to perform conversion therapy, advertising or promoting conversion therapy, and benefiting financially from conversion therapy, and includes both sexual orientation and gender identity in its definition of conversion therapy and protects both adults and minors. [Source: Wikipedia, 2021-12-30.]

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NEW: Conservative MPs produced video highlighting benefits of professional counselling to 'challenge' gay 'sexual behaviour'. @GarnettGenuis [Wikipedia: Garnett Genuis] did not address questions about whether any public money or resources were used to produce the video. https://t.co/NWtOq5BY8h pic.twitter.com/oL17c20QFV

-- PressProgress (@pressprogress) June 10, 2021

Former Conservative MP Tamara Jansen,  a senior member of ARPA  [ARPA:  Association for Reformed Political Action] who previously promoted six-day creationism, also made headlines after quoting the Bible in the House of Commons. Jansen further suggested some conversion therapy would be defensible, if it helped an individual curb their "lesbian activity."

Conservative MP Jeremy Patzer also spoke positively of conversion therapy which aimed only to help husbands manage their "same-sex attractions."

Meanwhile, Conservative MP Stephanie Kusie faced criticism from a "gay friend" after she voted against the conversion therapy ban. Stephanie Kusie was not impressed. "I don't recall hearing from you when I won" Kusie wrote "It's disappointing to hear from you now."

Conservative MP says she's 'disappointed' in gay friend who criticized her for opposing conversion therapy bill: https://t.co/lUKCWtzrPH #cdnpoli  |  #ableg

-- PressProgress (@pressprogress) June 24, 2021

The 'Liberties Caucus' And Lockdown 'Tyranny'

In 2021-04, Peace River - Westlock MP Arnold Viersen   appeared on a right-wing evangelical podcast called "CrossPolitic" to call the Alberta government's lockdown measures "tyranny." Arnold Viersen didn't stop there. Viersen also questioned whether the COVID-19 pandemic is actually a pandemic. "COVID is a real thing," Viersen said, before claiming that "in Alberta we don't even have a definition of 'pandemic'.

I'm not an anti-vaxxer, but ...

Back in 2021-08, nearly 1.5 million Canadians had been infected by COVID-19, as the official death toll currently stood at 26,683. But Conservative MP Ted Falk wasn't sure. "The media, especially, has bombarded Canadians for the last 13-14 months with COVID-19," Ted Falk told an obscure right-wing podcast called Conservative Roundup. "They have this gory image of a virus with these tentacles and they make it seem really scary," Falk added. "24/7 they keep pounding that message out to Canadians: 'Be scared of that little red ball with all the spikes, it's gonna kill you'." "There's a lot of people that have put a lot of hope in vaccines," the Conservative MP said. "I'm not an anti-vaxxer  [Vaccine hesitancy], but I'm not completely sold on this vaccination." Ted Falk did not respond to requests for comment from PressProgress.

Horsing Around With Ivermectin

Through last month [2021-11], Canada's COVID-19 vaccination rate steadily increased to cover nearly 30 million people, as infections and deaths remained low. But, in the United States, right-wing   conspiracy theorists falsely claimed a strand of the anti-parasitic medication, Ivermectin, used as a horse-dewormer, could treat COVID-19 better than vaccines.

You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y'all. Stop it. https://t.co/TWb75xYEY4

-- U.S. FDA (@US_FDA) August 21, 2021

And, back in 2021-11, former Niagara Falls Conservative MP Dean Allison   sponsored an official House of Commons petition demanding the Canadian federal government make ivermectin "available immediately to Canadians." Dean Allison's office did not respond to questions from PressProgress regarding his personal views on ivermectin.

Door knocking With Anti-lockdown MPP Roman Baber

In 2021-01, Ontario MPP Roman Baber tweeted that "lockdowns are deadlier than COVID" and wrote an open letter to Ontario Premier Doug Ford claiming that "the fear of COVID is exaggerated." Roman Barber was booted from the Progressive Conservative caucus soon after. Ontario Premier Doug Ford called Barber's open letter "irresponsible." But, leading up to the 2021-09 federal election [2021 Canadian federal election], at least two Conservative candidates were caught knocking on doors with Roman Baber.

A star Conservative candidate went doorknocking with a right-wing, anti-lockdown politician.

Melissa Lantsman says she's "delighted" to have the support of Roman Baber, who was kicked out of Doug Ford's caucus after condemning COVID-19 lockdowns https://t.co/pTXw9uKG2K  |  #cdnpoli

-- PressProgress (@pressprogress) July 13, 2021

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[Comment: More on Melissa Lantsman: [PressProgress.ca, 2022-01-24] Conservative MP's Photo of 'Empty Canadian Grocery Store' Actually Taken in Northern England, Not Canada.  Canadian conservatives keep playing fast and loose with the facts sharing misleading photos of grocery stores on social media.]

Abortion

Addressing the 2021 Annual General Meeting of the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association  (SPLA), Conservative MP Kelly Block mentioned consulting with several top anti-abortion activists as she drafted a Private Members Bill allowing physicians to opt out of performing medically-assisted dying procedures [Discrimination via Conscientious Objection]. SPLA Annual General Meeting host Francis Nowak  [local copy] added it would be a "very powerful first step" in stopping abortion and other issues. [See also: Anti-abortion movements.]

Anti-abortion groups quietly installed activists into top positions inside the Conservative Party of Canada  (CPC) over the weekend.

At least seven newly elected members of the CPC's powerful National Council were endorsed by anti-abortion groups. https://t.co/qLQyE2a77r  |  #cdnpoli

-- PressProgress (@pressprogress) March 22, 2021

After the Conservative Party of Canada's 2021-03 convention, PressProgress found nearly 40% of its National Council - empowered to control the party's budget, create bylaws and set the rules for nomination races and candidate selection - were endorsed by anti-abortion groups.

Neo-Nazi money

In 2021-01, MP Derek Sloan was ousted from the Conservative caucus after PressProgress confirmed he accepted a donation from one of Canada's most notorious neo-Nazis. Paul Fromm - who self-identifies as a "white nationalist" - confirmed to PressProgress that he [Paul Fromm] purchased a Conservative Party of Canada membership and cast a vote for Derek Sloan during the 2020 Conservative leadership election.

NEW: Conservative Party of Canada is "reviewing" the membership of a prominent neo-Nazi who voted for Derek Sloan.

We've obtained an email showing top Conservative officials are considering revoking his party membership. https://t.co/tRhA2m7Apj #cdnpoli  |  #cdnmedia

-- PressProgress (@pressprogress) January 19, 2021

"As far as I know, I'm still paid up and in good standing," Paul Fromm told PressProgress. "I voted for Sloan," the neo-Nazi said. "He was against cancel culture. He was also very strong on the danger posed by Red China." "Racism is a disease of the soul," Erin O'Toole said in a statement. "Derek Sloan's acceptance of a donation from a well-known white supremacist is far worse than a gross error of judgement or failure of due diligence."

Senator Denise Batters has a point when she criticizes   Erin O'Toole's leadership of the Conservative Party. But O'Toole's leadership might also be beside the point - because the challenges facing Conservatives will be the same no matter who leads them.

That was true when Andrew Scheer was compelled to step aside and it might be even more true now.

"On the carbon tax, on guns, on conscience rights - Erin O'Toole flip-flopped on our policies within the same week, the same day and even within the same sentence," Denise Batters claims in the video she posted Monday [2021-11-15] to promote her call for a party referendum on O'Toole. "He won the leadership race claiming to be 'true blue' but ran an election campaign nearly indistinguishable from Justin Trudeau's  Liberal Party."

Denise Batters overstates her case but she's aiming at something real. The candidate Erin O'Toole claimed to be in this fall's federal election  [2021 Canadian federal election, 2021-09-20] was different from the candidate he claimed to be in last year's Conservative leadership race. And as O'Toole tried to pivot, he turned the party in different directions.

The "true blue" leadership candidate took a harder line on government spending and a more expansive view of "conscience rights" for doctors who do not agree with abortion or medically assisted death. Erin O'Toole condemned "Justin Trudeau's carbon tax" but then - apparently without warning his caucus - pledged that a Conservative government led by him would introduce its own plan to price carbon emissions. He told Conservatives that he wanted to defund large parts of the CBC, then promised merely to review the Crown corporation's mandate.

An awkward pivot on the campaign trail

This pattern made trouble for Erin O'Toole during the election campaign. Confronted by Justin Trudeau over a promise to repeal the Liberal government's ban on "assault-style" weapons - one O'Toole commitment from the leadership race that had made it into the Conservative Party's election platform - O'Toole abruptly and awkwardly tried to change his position.

With his confusing explanations and his inability to close the discussion, Erin O'Toole made that issue harder for himself than it needed to be. But maybe any Conservative leader would have struggled to find a position on gun control that satisfied both his party's base and the broader electorate.

[ ... snip ... ]

B.C. supporters of conversion therapy received a setback in the . That's because four of the 12 British Columbia (B.C.) members of the Conservative Party of Canada caucus who voted against a ban were defeated in their Metro Vancouver ridings. On 2021-06-06, a large majority in Parliament voted in favour of Bill C-6, which was introduced by Justice Minister David Lametti.

This legislation made it a criminal offence to cause an individual to undergo conversion therapy against their will. The bill also banned forcing children to receive therapy to make them heterosexual.

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In December 2019, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that a nationwide ban on conversion therapy would be a priority for his government. Bill C-8, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (conversion therapy) (conversion therapy), was introduced in March 2020, but did not proceed because of the prorogation of Parliament later in 2020. The government reintroduced it as Bill C-6  [details] on 2020-10-01. The Bill amends the Criminal Code to prohibit advertising for conversion therapy on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, causing a child to undergo conversion therapy, forcing any person to undergo conversion therapy without the person's consent, removing a child from Canada with the intention that the child undergo conversion therapy outside Canada, and receiving a financial or other material benefit from the provision of conversion therapy," subject to indictment or summary conviction, under penalty of fine or imprisonment. Although the bill passed the House of Commons in June 2021, it did not pass the Senate before Parliament was dissolved ahead of the 2021-09-20 federal election. [Source: Wikipedia, 2021-09-22.]

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Bill C-6 had widespread support in the LGBT+ community. After all, many LGBT+ people suffered trauma from this practice dating back decades. Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole supported banning conversion therapy.

However, there were 62 other Conservatives who voted against Bill C-6 on 2021-06-06, including the Dirty Dozen from B.C. Through their votes, they left left an impression that many Conservatives think that it's okay for therapists to receive money and to advertise their services to try to change people's sexual orientation against their will. You can read the names of the B.C. members of the Conservative caucus below who voted against the ban.

• Kenny Chiu (Steveston-Richmond East)

• Alice Wong (Richmond Centre)

• Tamara Jansen (Cloverdale-Langley City)

• Nelly Shin (Port Moody-Coquitlam)

• Marc Dalton (Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge)

• Ed Fast (Abbotsford)

• Tracy Gray (Kelowna-Lake Country)

• Rob Morrison (Kootenay-Columbia)

• Mark Stahl (Chilliwack-Hope)  |  [theProgress.com, 2020-11-02] MP Mark Strahl abstained from vote on conversion therapy

• Tako Van Popta (Langley-Aldergrove)

• Brad Vis (Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon)

• Bob Zimmer (Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies)

A lot of blame is being heaped on Erin O'Toole for the Conservative Party of Canada loss on 2021-09-20. But the reality is that a majority of voters in the suburbs of Vancouver and other large cities are growing increasingly tired of right-wing, Bible-thumping zealots. Especially those who think it's acceptable to pay a therapist to persuade a gay person to become straight. ...

[ ... snip ... ]

Multiple candidates for Erin O'Toole's Conservatives have been promoting petitions through an online platform run by a far-right organization based in Spain that appears to collect and share personal data for "international" purposes.

CitizenGO, a Madrid-based organization, describes itself as an "online petition platform" that uses "petitions and action alerts as a resource to defend and promote life, family and liberty." The group has close ties with the Spanish far-right political party Vox, which is a and xenophobic party that compares its rise to the Spanish Inquisition and proposes to "make Spain great again" - the party is seen by many to channel nostalgia for Francisco Franco's fascists. CitizenGo has shared petitions that range from calls to ban pornography and end abortion rights, to calls to "shut down Teen Vogue,"  "boycott Sesame Street," and "stop LGBT indoctrination at Disneyland."

Sherwood Park - Fort Saskatchewan Conservative candidate Garnett Genuis is one of the Conservative Party of Canada incumbents who has promoted the group's petitions. Genuis has created several petitions on the platform, primarily on topics relating to incidents' involving . One petition in 2019 that claimed Liberal democratic institutions Minister Karina Gould "wants the UN to regulate the internet."

Elsewhere, Conservative incumbent Rosemarie Falk shared a petition by CitizenGO against Medically Assisted Dying legislation. Back in March 2018, CitizenGO met with the parliamentary "pro-life caucus" with the help of Conservative candidate Arnold Viersen, who "expertly co-ordinated" the meeting. A CitizenGO press release stated: ...

[ ... snip ... ]

North Vancouver Conservative candidate Les Jickling, a past government relations director for a private health care company, advocated to expand "private medicine" to respond to the 'crisis' in Canada's public healthcare system.

From 2011 to 2020 Les Jickling was the director of marketing and government relations for Copeman Healthcare, one of Canada's largest for-profit "primary care" companies. Copeman, now owned by Telus, operated "boutique health clinics" for what was described as "hefty membership fees."

During Jickling's time, the company was investigated by the BC government for violating the Canada Health Act. While the company was cleared of wrongdoing, an internal Alberta government document later flagged that company had been charging patients user fees for publicly insured care. The company has argued its "membership fees" go to "paying the doctors for additional time."

In 2016, CBC News found evidence suggesting patients who refused to pay were told to get referrals elsewhere. According to Jickling's LinkedIn, as head of the company's government relations department, he "developed Copeman's formal PR program, wrote original articles (and) drove impressive growth."

In 2013, Jickling for the Vancouver Sun titled: "Private medicine has role to play in prevention; Public funds come up short." "Private medicine might just be the solution to problems in our universal healthcare system," the Conservative candidate wrote.

[ ... snip ... ]

Mattias Vanderley, Erin O'Toole's   Conservative Party of Canada's candidate for London-Fanshawe (Ontario) in the 2021 Canadian federal election.
[Source]

Mattias Vanderley, Erin O'Toole's Conservative candidate in London-Fanshawe, says he believes his path to power lies in the fact that the Southwestern Ontario city is "very socially conservative." The rookie candidate appeared on a right-wing YouTube channel called "Canada This Month" earlier this year where he discussed whether he could "flip" London-Fanshawe, a riding that has never voted Conservative in its two decades of existence.

Mattias Vanderley said he has high hopes. "I would argue yes, now would it mean I would flip it this election? Maybe," Vanderley told the right-wing YouTuber. "But more likely it will be a two-time run." "However, there is a multitude of things aiding me." "First of all, the Liberals, who were elected in this riding, were very Conservative, in fact they were pro-life Liberals," Vanderley said. "This riding is a little unique: It's socially conservative - very socially conservative - but fiscally liberal."

Mattias Vanderley then compared London, Ontario with two European countries well-known for traditions of far-right, authoritarian politics:

"I would point to Spain as a very good comparison because you see that everywhere in Spain, socially conservative, fiscally liberal. You can even arguably see that in Orbán's Hungary."

Viktor Orbán's government in Hungary has been widely-denounced by human rights organizations for its anti-immigrant policies, removing the "right to asylum" and, according to Amnesty International, criminalizing efforts to assist refugees. The government has also passed several anti-LGBTQ laws - including bans on material which "encourages" or "popularizes" homosexuality.

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• [Aside]  China also suppresses and censors LGBT content and persons; e.g.:

• [Variety.com, 2021-09-03] China Wants 'Sissy Idols' and 'Effeminate Men' Scrubbed From Entertainment Industry.

• [BBC.com, 2021-09-02] China's media cracks down on 'effeminate' styles.

• [PinkNews.co.uk, 2021-09-02] Chinese copy of Snapchat bans the words 'gay', 'lesbian' and 'LGBTQ'.  A hugely popular messaging platform in China, QQ, has banned the words "gay", "lesbian" and "LGBTQ", claiming that they are "harmful".

• [theGuardian.com, 2016-03-04] China bans depictions of gay people on television.  Content that 'exaggerates dark side of society' is banned from TV - from homosexuality to adultery, showing cleavage and even reincarnation.

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In 2018, former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper was widely condemned after tweeting his congratulations to the far-right, authoritarian leader of Hungary following his reelection, thanks largely to gerrymandering and rewriting the constitution.

Earlier this year, PressProgress reported fellow Conservative candidate Garnett Genuis mingled with anti-LGBT groups closely tied to Orbán's Fidesz party, alongside Russian neo-monarchists, and enthusiastic supporters of Spain's far right.

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• [Aside]  [PressProgress.ca, 2021-06-23] Conservative MP Who Opposed Conversion Therapy Bill Spoke at Conference Organized By European Far-Right, Anti-LGBTQ Groups.


Garnett Genuis (born 1987-01-23) is a Canadian politician who has served as the Member of Parliament for the riding of Sherwood Park - Fort Saskatchewan (Alberta) since 2015.
[Source]

Garnett Genuis has been one of Canada's most outspoken critics of legislation banning gay conversion therapy. "Conservative MP Garnett Genuis attended a conference organized and funded by figures with ties to Hungary's far-right, anti-LGBTQ governing party and featured speakers from Christian nationalist groups and the European far-right. Genuis, an outspoken social conservative, has spent the past year campaigning against legislation to ban conversion therapy in Canada. On Tuesday, Genuis joined dozens of Conservative MPs who voted against Bill C-6, which ultimately passed with 263 in favour and 63 opposed. Genuis used resources from his MP office to produce a video defending conversion therapy, though he insisted his position is only motivated by the wording of the legislation rather than his personal views on LGBTQ rights. However, in April 2019, Genuis accepted a paid flight to Bogotá, Colombia to speak at a conference hosted by the Political Network For Values - a group chaired by the "family and youth minister" in Viktor Orbán's far-right Hungarian government and partly funded by a think tank formally affiliated with Orbán's Fidesz party. Orbán's government is currently cracking down on LGBTQ rights, leading Hungary to be condemned by governments across the European Union. The Political Network For Values lists opposition to abortion rights and same-sex marriage as its core values. The group has also promoted conspiratorial claims that billionaire George Soros is subverting traditional gender norms because he is "imposing on Europe" an "ideology aimed ultimately at creating a 'new man'."

In photos and video obtained by PressProgress, Genuis is seen speaking alongside anti-LGBTQ speakers with ties to Orbán's government, as well as Spain's Vox Party, Poland's Law and Justice Party and Russian neo-monarchists.

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Asked what he thought of the far-right People's Party of Canada, however, Mattias Vanderley was more muted - describing Maxime Bernier's party as "idealistic to a fault." As for himself, Vanderley is decidedly less muted: "I am not quite in the same bind as other politicians where they're scared to interact with people. Some are deathly worried about having a scandal, they're worried about saying the wrong thing or going out there." "I don't let fear dominate my actions," he said. "I let reason."

Neither Mattias Vanderley nor the Conservative Party of Canada nor Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party responded to requests for comment from PressProgress.

A majority of Conservative Party MPs - over half - voted against Bill C-6, which would have criminalized the practice of conversion therapy across Canada. The House ultimately passed the bill but it stalled in the Senate and died on the order paper when Justin Trudeau called an election.

The Conservative Party's electoral platform  [local copy, via 2021-09-13 archive.org snapsnot] now claims that they've always been clear in their opposition to conversion therapy and will indeed criminalize it - but only for sexual orientation, not gender identity and expression.

By proposing a ban that does not include gender identity and expression, the Conservative Party is breaking with the consensus of professional associations and United Nations expert recommendations and threatening to stand idly by as transgender children are subjected to dehumanizing and harmful practices that aim to change who they are at their core. Through its electoral platform, the Conservatives are showing their disregard for the well-being of trans Canadians.

Conversion therapy treats sexual and gender diversity as disorders to be cured, and employs sustained efforts in order to change, discourage or repress people's sexual orientation, gender identity and/or gender expression.

In a recent report, the United Nations Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity called on governments across the world to ban conversion therapies targeting not only sexual orientation, but also gender identity and expression. According to the Independent Expert, conversion therapy violates international human rights protections against degrading, inhuman and cruel practices.

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