Delegates vote to frame
minors' gender transitions
(Quebec) Conservative delegates voted 69.2 per cent in favour of a resolution to ban gender transitions for minors during the policy plenary session on the final day of their national convention Saturday in Quebec City.
Campaigners say a Conservative government should ban "life-altering medical or surgical procedures"
for minors who wish to make the gender transition.
At the microphone in favor, an activist argued that gender transition surgery is an important decision that requires "careful reflection" and "well-informed consent," which children would be unable to do.
A delegate who said she was a doctor said that a vote for "is a vote against what you say you are in favour of and represents pure hypocrisy," with this policy going "against the values of our party, which advocates freedom and bodily autonomy."
In a written statement, Liberal Party of Canada spokesman Matteo Rossi called the resolution "yet another example of Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives' attempt to import American-style far-right policies into Canada."
This rhetoric is similar to that advocated in the United States – notably in Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis has passed legislation banning transitional care for transgender youth.
According to many health professionals, parents and advocates for LGBTQ+ youth, the measure puts them
at increased risk of suicide and depression.
The other resolution targeting transgender people received the support of 86.6% of the Conservatives. It aimed to restrict access to women's toilets, changing rooms, shelters and prisons to "female" people in the name of "safety, dignity and privacy."
One teenage girl came forward to say that she often hid in the toilet to escape from the men who followed her. "And here we want to open the door and say: 'after you'. Vote yes to protect your daughters, wives and nieces," she said before receiving a standing ovation.
Vaccines, wokism and co.Both resolutions on vaccines passed, with 66.3% and 68.1% support, respectively. The first requires health professionals to disclose "an uncensored analysis" of their "risks and [...] benefits". The second states that Canadians have "the freedom and right to refuse vaccines for moral, religious, medical or other reasons."
These resolutions were perceived as "dog whistles," a political term that refers to the whistle that emits ultrasound that only dogs can hear and defines coded messages conveyed to targeted groups, but that seem harmless to the general public.
The Conservatives also passed a 94.6% resolution calling for an end to affirmative action in research chair funding. It is necessary to "get woke ideology out of politics," said a diverse activist.
The resolution to ban inclusion, diversity and equity workshops as "ideological indoctrination" received 81.5% support. A black delegate opposed the resolution, arguing that those who do not want to adopt the values of an organization can work elsewhere.
Notably, several elected officials from Quebec and a delegate repeatedly came to point out to
members the very many mistakes in the translation of resolutions.
A fiscal resolution proposing to allocate any budget surplus to debt repayment received 91.4 per cent support.
83.7 per cent of the Conservatives want a Conservative government to support the "continued use" of oil and gas, Alberta's regional priority.
At the same time, 73.3% said "yes" to clarify their environmental policy and withdraw the idea that "the government has a responsibility to ensure a balance between the sometimes contradictory values of environmental protection and job creation."
78.2% of delegates want to eliminate the GST on maternity products, 95.2% want to overturn the Online News Act that they perceive as an attack on freedom of expression, 79.7% want their party to adopt a "firm" foreign policy towards China.
A resolution stating that Ottawa supports building high-speed rail was passed, but only with 69.2 per cent of the vote. One delegate who objected explained that freight trains cannot wait for a TGV to pass. Delegates from Alberta,
Saskatchewan and Newfoundland voted overwhelmingly against.
For Conservative strategist and former adviser in the Harper government, Rodolphe Husny, it is "normal" for social resolutions to raise eyebrows, as is often the case in other parties.
"On the other hand, the leader [Conservative, Pierre Poilievre] has been very clear [that] he has free rein to make the election platform he wants. And he can propose what he wants. He will also be able to ignore what he does not like," Husny noted.
In total, Conservative delegates voted on 30 resolutions on Saturday. Thirty other resolutions were debated and voted on behind closed doors the day before in order to keep those that are the most popular, provided they obtain a majority.
The Conservative Party of Canada had not yet provided The Canadian Press with the results of these votes at the time of publication and it is not clear if it intends to make them public.
Resolutions that have disappeared from the policy agenda include withdrawing federal funding from Canadian universities that "fail to protect freedom of expression" and ending government funding of the media, including through programs and tax credits.
It is also unclear what happened to the carbon tax proposal stating that provinces should be "free to adopt their own climate change policies, without federal interference or federal incentives" and the priority of their Quebec colleagues
to abolish the tax on work income for people aged 65 and over.
As for the resolution proposing to cut public funding for Radio-Canada and not just CBC, The Canadian Press confirmed from several sources that it was vigorously beaten behind closed doors and that the leader has indicated through his entourage that he personally opposes it.
Campaigners say a Conservative government should ban "life-altering medical or surgical procedures"
for minors who wish to make the gender transition.
At the microphone in favor, an activist argued that gender transition surgery is an important decision that requires "careful reflection" and "well-informed consent," which children would be unable to do.
A delegate who said she was a doctor said that a vote for "is a vote against what you say you are in favour of and represents pure hypocrisy," with this policy going "against the values of our party, which advocates freedom and bodily autonomy."
In a written statement, Liberal Party of Canada spokesman Matteo Rossi called the resolution "yet another example of Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives' attempt to import American-style far-right policies into Canada."
This rhetoric is similar to that advocated in the United States – notably in Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis has passed legislation banning transitional care for transgender youth.
According to many health professionals, parents and advocates for LGBTQ+ youth, the measure puts them
at increased risk of suicide and depression.
The other resolution targeting transgender people received the support of 86.6% of the Conservatives. It aimed to restrict access to women's toilets, changing rooms, shelters and prisons to "female" people in the name of "safety, dignity and privacy."
One teenage girl came forward to say that she often hid in the toilet to escape from the men who followed her. "And here we want to open the door and say: 'after you'. Vote yes to protect your daughters, wives and nieces," she said before receiving a standing ovation.
Vaccines, wokism and co.Both resolutions on vaccines passed, with 66.3% and 68.1% support, respectively. The first requires health professionals to disclose "an uncensored analysis" of their "risks and [...] benefits". The second states that Canadians have "the freedom and right to refuse vaccines for moral, religious, medical or other reasons."
These resolutions were perceived as "dog whistles," a political term that refers to the whistle that emits ultrasound that only dogs can hear and defines coded messages conveyed to targeted groups, but that seem harmless to the general public.
The Conservatives also passed a 94.6% resolution calling for an end to affirmative action in research chair funding. It is necessary to "get woke ideology out of politics," said a diverse activist.
The resolution to ban inclusion, diversity and equity workshops as "ideological indoctrination" received 81.5% support. A black delegate opposed the resolution, arguing that those who do not want to adopt the values of an organization can work elsewhere.
Notably, several elected officials from Quebec and a delegate repeatedly came to point out to
members the very many mistakes in the translation of resolutions.
A fiscal resolution proposing to allocate any budget surplus to debt repayment received 91.4 per cent support.
83.7 per cent of the Conservatives want a Conservative government to support the "continued use" of oil and gas, Alberta's regional priority.
At the same time, 73.3% said "yes" to clarify their environmental policy and withdraw the idea that "the government has a responsibility to ensure a balance between the sometimes contradictory values of environmental protection and job creation."
78.2% of delegates want to eliminate the GST on maternity products, 95.2% want to overturn the Online News Act that they perceive as an attack on freedom of expression, 79.7% want their party to adopt a "firm" foreign policy towards China.
A resolution stating that Ottawa supports building high-speed rail was passed, but only with 69.2 per cent of the vote. One delegate who objected explained that freight trains cannot wait for a TGV to pass. Delegates from Alberta,
Saskatchewan and Newfoundland voted overwhelmingly against.
For Conservative strategist and former adviser in the Harper government, Rodolphe Husny, it is "normal" for social resolutions to raise eyebrows, as is often the case in other parties.
"On the other hand, the leader [Conservative, Pierre Poilievre] has been very clear [that] he has free rein to make the election platform he wants. And he can propose what he wants. He will also be able to ignore what he does not like," Husny noted.
In total, Conservative delegates voted on 30 resolutions on Saturday. Thirty other resolutions were debated and voted on behind closed doors the day before in order to keep those that are the most popular, provided they obtain a majority.
The Conservative Party of Canada had not yet provided The Canadian Press with the results of these votes at the time of publication and it is not clear if it intends to make them public.
Resolutions that have disappeared from the policy agenda include withdrawing federal funding from Canadian universities that "fail to protect freedom of expression" and ending government funding of the media, including through programs and tax credits.
It is also unclear what happened to the carbon tax proposal stating that provinces should be "free to adopt their own climate change policies, without federal interference or federal incentives" and the priority of their Quebec colleagues
to abolish the tax on work income for people aged 65 and over.
As for the resolution proposing to cut public funding for Radio-Canada and not just CBC, The Canadian Press confirmed from several sources that it was vigorously beaten behind closed doors and that the leader has indicated through his entourage that he personally opposes it.
