By: Yildiz Subuk, Staff Writer
Content warning: mention of abortion legislation and violence against pregnant people.
It’s been over two years since Conservative party leader Pierre Poilievre announced his candidacy for prime minister and stated his plans to make Canada “the freest nation on earth.” Leading up to this overly-ambitious and vague statement, Poilievre brushes over a few unconvincing ways in which Canadian freedom is attacked, such as public health measures like vaccine requirements. Poilievre’s definition of freedom lacks any kind of depth or significance once one sits down and examines his party’s policy declaration. It is instead a direct contradiction to what he says in his dramatically uplifting, yet hilariously insincere campaign announcement.
Section 86 of the declaration states, “A Conservative Government will not support any legislation to regulate abortion,” suggesting they don’t plan to make abortion illegal. However, under section 10 (free votes), it says issues that concern “moral conscience” are “diverse,” and that members of parliament should vote based on their own beliefs about abortion, euthanasia, and the definition of marriage, regardless of what the party has declared. The free votes section would allow legislation to pass if there were enough votes in favour, despite what Poilievre says.
A report published by The Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC) pointed out that all Conservative MPs are anti-choice. This conclusion is specifically drawn from the Conservative party unanimously voting in favour of Bill C-311 in 2023. The bill proposes that any attacks on a pregnant person would be considered more severe than if they were not pregnant, as it tries to establish fetuses as “pre-born,” legal persons. The coalition described the bill as redundant, as there are already many other clauses within the charter that protect pregnant people, and also because there needs to be more government action aside from just a bill to protect them.
Similar bills have been built upon in the US, even considering whether courts should persecute people for murder or assault should they choose to have an abortion. Passing this bill would allow room for anti-choice movements to double down on its messaging around abortion amorality and possibly use it to limit freedom of choice for pregnant people.
“Poilievre’s definition of freedom lacks any kind of depth or significance once one sits down and examines his party’s policy declaration.”
Under section 142 (diversity principles) and 143 (multiculturalism), the party emphasizes the value of a multicultural society and how each group within society should be given an equal opportunity “to enhance and contribute to Canada without discrimination and barriers.”
The prior is contradicted by section 20 (unfair hiring practices), as it states that the party does not support the hiring of people based on “ideology.” This statement is purposely vague and doesn’t explain what the party means by ideological hiring. Conservatives are averse to hiring practices that are aligned with Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity (DEI) principles, which involves initiatives promoting the equitable access, opportunity, employment, and sense of belonging of underrepresented people in the workplace.
DEI clearly protects the values outlined in section 142 and 143 of the policy declaration as they ensure people who would otherwise face barriers have access to opportunities. It’s telling that the party does not support the very practice that validates their sections involving multiculturalism and diversity principles. In recent years many right-wing thinkers have spun a harmful narrative about DEI, claiming it’s an ideological practice that doesn’t hire people based on their skillset, but for their cultural and racial identity. This narrative makes DEI obsolete and reinforces a move towards traditional hiring practices which do not account for principles of equity. It also assumes whiteness as the norm, and promotes the idea that disproportionate hiring and income inequality for minorities are somehow deserved rather than unfairly institutionalized over years of this country’s development.
These examples are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the plethora of contradictions within the Conservative party’s policy declaration, including their claims about environmental “responsibility” while collaborating with climate change skeptics. The document itself is vague with its language, but after even the slightest examination it’s clear that the party does not have the best interest of most Canadians in mind, especially those belonging to marginalized groups. In order to spot these contradictions, we must see how clearly the party defines their stance on important issues and analyze what their policies will actually do. These contradictions are not just lies, but also serve as a window into the sinister, backwards thinking which informs many of the policies the party values.
