Standing by the Ottawa trucker convoy, turning his back on Ukraine and threatening to take away certain transgender rights if elected prime minister, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is Canada’s most volatile politician.
Currently, Poilievre’s Conservatives are polling close to a 41-per-cent ballot support rate, according to Nanos, putting them in the driver’s seat in Canada’s political scene.
At this point, unless Trudeau can turn around the Liberal Party’s poor polling numbers by the next election, it seems Poilievre will become Canada’s 24th prime minister.
There are several glaring issues with Poilievre and the Conservatives.
Firstly, they need an effective plan to combat climate change, which is undoubtedly one of the largest crises in the world. Poilievre wants to “axe the [carbon] tax” put in effect by the Liberals to make life more affordable for Canadians. This sounds admirable, but it would significantly lessen Canada’s commitments to limit the emission of greenhouse gases.
In 2022, the trucker convoy invaded Ottawa and nearly destroyed many small businesses in the city’s downtown district due to high disturbance levels. Poilievre backed this destructive behaviour, seemingly ignoring the civilian impact of the protests. The Calgary-born politician claims he wants to help the middle class in his policies, but if he supported a convoy that directly negatively affected the middle class, is he truly acting in their best interests??
Additionally, Poilievre recently announced that if he were elected prime minister, he would crack down on transgender rights, including banning transgender women, or as he incorrectly says, “biological men,” from using women’s bathrooms and changing rooms.
This is an unacceptable move by the Conservative Leader, as it pushes transgender women down and threatens to strip them of basic human rights. In a world where Poilievre is elected, members of the transgender community will experience further discrimination, which is alarming considering the ongoing oppression they face. Promising to kick them out of spaces they have the right to be in is fundamentally wrong—also a topic Poilievre has no business being involved in.
His plan is undeniably backwards. Since June 2017, all places within Canada explicitly within the Canadian Human Rights Act prohibit discrimination against gender identity or gender identity or expression.
One of the main duties of the prime minister title is to stand by and support all Canadians. In Poilievre’s case, he is inciting hate and transphobically declaring transgender women not to be real women, therefore turning his back on the people he is supposed to be serving and protecting. A prime minister whose actions alienate such a large group of Canadians cannot be an effective leader.
This is not the first time Poilievre has turned his back on people in need of support. He infamously refused to continue to support Ukraine in their ongoing war with Russia, labelling the allied country a “faraway foreign land” in question period on Dec. 12, 2023. He refused to apologize for the remark when prompted later.
Poilievre maintains Canada is a “broken country.” His populist approach to politics is getting old already. Dividing the country rather than uniting it is never the right idea.
Poilievre’s opinions and potential policies as prime minister could be very damaging for Canada. A Canadian leader should never promote division, but that is precisely what. Poilievre is doing.
In his eyes, the country is a mess, and he is the only one who can save Canadians. In reality, if the provocative Poilievre were to become prime minister, it would be a step back for Canadians and for progress as a whole.
Feature graphic by Alisha Velji/The Charlatan
