Canadian politicians standing up for parental rights face serious backlash from trans activists
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs and others in political office support parents and appear to be standing up to vocal opponents.
(LifeSiteNews) — As I noted in this space earlier this week, Canada finally appears to be having something of a cultural breakthrough moment. New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs decided to stake his career on support for parental rights — specifically, that parents must be informed before school staff can refer to their children by new names and pronouns. Two attempts to oust him as premier have failed, and the widespread support for his position has not gone unnoticed. Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Ontario have followed suit, with federal Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre also announcing that he supports parental rights.
I’ve been writing for years that the majority of Canadians are not on board with the tenets of gender ideology, but that the commonsense majority has no political voice aside from a few ineffectual fringe parties. Thus, the first politician to have the guts to stake out the territory — Blaine Higgs, as it turned out — discovered that the LGBT activists and their progressive allies are only projecting strength. Much of their power was in the illusion of their power, which is why so many previously silent politicians waited for someone else to test the waters first.
Indeed, as one LGBT journalist put it on Twitter: “The way this shit started rolling out from province to province, conservative to conservative, as SOON as there was proof (i.e. New Brunswick) this rhetoric could play in Canada is so gross and should be super worrying in context of the next federal election.” Or, you know, encouraging. Depending on your position. But in the meantime, the backlash to this shift is worth paying attention to, because as I mentioned earlier, there are plenty of people who are saying what they believe out loud — and what they believe should be noted, especially by parents.
For example, Charles Adler, a former radio host who has spent much time over the past several years fulminating about Conservative politicians and pledging his loyalty to the LGBT movement (who, although surely impressed by his groveling, must be tiring of him), tweeted, “It’s lunacy to declare antivaxxers should have the authority in public health decision making – not doctors. It’s also off base to say parents should have the authority to educate children – not teachers. Not surprisingly, both clown cars are steered by the same drivers.”
I’m glad he said this in writing, because it is incredibly revealing that this obviously seemed reasonable to Adler in his head. Adler is actually claiming that a four-year university degree (incredibly easy to obtain) and teacher’s college qualifies employees of the government school system to decide what children learn and keep it secret from their parents. This is a question of authority, and in a contest between parents and teachers, Adler comes firmly and explicitly down on the side of the teachers. That’s not common sense — that’s a radical, revolutionary opinion.
Dr. Kevin Wasko, who unsurprisingly has clarifying “he/him” pronouns in his bio, echoed the sentiment: “The invalidation of ‘experts’ by leaders should concern Canadians. Anti-intellectualism (the general mistrust of intellectuals and experts) erodes trust in our institutions and ultimately poses challenges for democracy.” I’m glad he put “experts” in quotation marks rather than “parental rights” like most journalists, but it’s worth pointing out here that by including his pronouns in his bio, Wasko has emphasized precisely why so many parents do not trust elite opinions — because that ideology results in children getting put on puberty blockers and teens getting sex change surgeries.
A final example is writer Mel Woods of Xtra Magazine, who tweeted, “We need to call out this ‘parental rights’ conversation happening in New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, Ontario and likely more provinces for what it is: a dangerous anti-trans dog whistle. Don’t think that Canada is different from the U.S. — our politicians attack trans youth here too.” In the accompanying article, Woods cluelessly makes the case that “parental rights” are a new thing that nobody used to care about — entirely ignoring the fact that even five years ago parents didn’t have to worry about their kids getting transitioned by school staff behind their back and gender dysphoria was still incredibly rare. This is the sort of gaslighting that greets any pushback to the transgender movement: Accusations that by noticing what is going on and objecting, you are somehow part of a “backlash” that is seizing the moment, or whatever.
I do hope that the politicians who have decided to do the political thing and back parents over trans activists don’t decide to back down in the face of the inevitable pushback. In the meantime, those pushing this agenda are telling parents precisely what they think of us. Let’s notice and remember. They believe that they know better than you what is best for your kids — unless you agree with them on sex changes and cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers for children. Don’t ever forget it.
I’ve been writing for years that the majority of Canadians are not on board with the tenets of gender ideology, but that the commonsense majority has no political voice aside from a few ineffectual fringe parties. Thus, the first politician to have the guts to stake out the territory — Blaine Higgs, as it turned out — discovered that the LGBT activists and their progressive allies are only projecting strength. Much of their power was in the illusion of their power, which is why so many previously silent politicians waited for someone else to test the waters first.
Indeed, as one LGBT journalist put it on Twitter: “The way this shit started rolling out from province to province, conservative to conservative, as SOON as there was proof (i.e. New Brunswick) this rhetoric could play in Canada is so gross and should be super worrying in context of the next federal election.” Or, you know, encouraging. Depending on your position. But in the meantime, the backlash to this shift is worth paying attention to, because as I mentioned earlier, there are plenty of people who are saying what they believe out loud — and what they believe should be noted, especially by parents.
For example, Charles Adler, a former radio host who has spent much time over the past several years fulminating about Conservative politicians and pledging his loyalty to the LGBT movement (who, although surely impressed by his groveling, must be tiring of him), tweeted, “It’s lunacy to declare antivaxxers should have the authority in public health decision making – not doctors. It’s also off base to say parents should have the authority to educate children – not teachers. Not surprisingly, both clown cars are steered by the same drivers.”
I’m glad he said this in writing, because it is incredibly revealing that this obviously seemed reasonable to Adler in his head. Adler is actually claiming that a four-year university degree (incredibly easy to obtain) and teacher’s college qualifies employees of the government school system to decide what children learn and keep it secret from their parents. This is a question of authority, and in a contest between parents and teachers, Adler comes firmly and explicitly down on the side of the teachers. That’s not common sense — that’s a radical, revolutionary opinion.
Dr. Kevin Wasko, who unsurprisingly has clarifying “he/him” pronouns in his bio, echoed the sentiment: “The invalidation of ‘experts’ by leaders should concern Canadians. Anti-intellectualism (the general mistrust of intellectuals and experts) erodes trust in our institutions and ultimately poses challenges for democracy.” I’m glad he put “experts” in quotation marks rather than “parental rights” like most journalists, but it’s worth pointing out here that by including his pronouns in his bio, Wasko has emphasized precisely why so many parents do not trust elite opinions — because that ideology results in children getting put on puberty blockers and teens getting sex change surgeries.
A final example is writer Mel Woods of Xtra Magazine, who tweeted, “We need to call out this ‘parental rights’ conversation happening in New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, Ontario and likely more provinces for what it is: a dangerous anti-trans dog whistle. Don’t think that Canada is different from the U.S. — our politicians attack trans youth here too.” In the accompanying article, Woods cluelessly makes the case that “parental rights” are a new thing that nobody used to care about — entirely ignoring the fact that even five years ago parents didn’t have to worry about their kids getting transitioned by school staff behind their back and gender dysphoria was still incredibly rare. This is the sort of gaslighting that greets any pushback to the transgender movement: Accusations that by noticing what is going on and objecting, you are somehow part of a “backlash” that is seizing the moment, or whatever.
I do hope that the politicians who have decided to do the political thing and back parents over trans activists don’t decide to back down in the face of the inevitable pushback. In the meantime, those pushing this agenda are telling parents precisely what they think of us. Let’s notice and remember. They believe that they know better than you what is best for your kids — unless you agree with them on sex changes and cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers for children. Don’t ever forget it.