This is our special back-to-school edition: Weaponizing intolerance – Justin Trudeau talks about rising levels of hate while Conservatives talk about parents rights.
This is our special back-to-school edition.
Weaponizing intolerance. Justin Trudeau talks about rising levels of hate while Conservatives talk about parents rights. Shopping for School supplies. As pens and pencils get more expensive, Pierre Poilievre has a special present for Justin Trudeau. Keeping parents in the loop. From Ontario to New Brunswick and across the prairies, Conservative governments say mom and dad have a right to know what’s going on at their child’s school.
Justin Trudeau says “people” are weaponizing intolerance as Conservatives stand up for parents rights to know what’s happening in their childrens’ classrooms.
Pierre Poilievre says it’s the parents, not the government, who should decide how their children are raised.
In Edmonton, Trudeau claimed that many kinds of hatred are getting worse in Canada. Trudeau’s statement in Edmonton followed an equally unusual conversation in Calgary with a Muslim father. That conversation was captured on a mobile phone and broadcast on social media. Trudeau’s statement in Edmonton followed an equally unusual conversation in Calgary with a Muslim father. That conversation was captured on a mobile phone and broadcast on social media.
In Calgary, Trudeau told a Muslim father that there are people on the far right who are against the Muslim community. And he used the word “weaponizing”once again. Trudeau refers in the discussion to LGBT Muslim kids – children who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered, as well as Muslim.
In his speech at the Edmonton Pride festival Trudeau referred to 2SLGBTQIA+ kids. Trudeau used the term 2SLGBTIA+ kids to describe kids who are two-spirited, lesbian, gay, transgendered, queer, intersex, or asexual. The plus at the end refers to all the other genders and sexualities that kids might choose to identify themselves with.
In Calgary, Trudeau gets some push-back from the Muslim father, who asks about a teacher in Edmonton who ranted at the children in her classroom who did not want to participate in Pride events. An audio recording from Edmonton’s Londonderry Middle School does indeed show the teacher telling Muslim students that they don’t belong in Canada.
Pierre Poilievre says it is up to parents, not the government, to raise their children according to their own values.
Back-to-school! Pierre Poilievre tallies up all the extra costs students are facing as the new year begins. Pierre Poilievre had a special back-to-school present for Justin Trudeau.
In New Brunswick, Pierre Poilievre tells Justin Trudeau to butt out of the province’s decision to keep parents informed when their children change their names at or change their gender pronouns at school.
A survey by Leger Research shows 69 per cent voters in Atlantic Canada agree with New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs that when a student wants to change their gender or have new gender pronouns, schools should have to let the child’s parents know to ensure they are aware of what’s happening.
That didn’t stop Justin Trudeau from attacking the Premier at a Toronto gay pride event. New Brunswick’s premier went on the CBC to explain his decision to keep parents informed about their children’s choices at school. The CBC’s Rosemary Barton pressed the Premier, but he held his ground. And the Premier also sent a message to Justin Trudeau.
Ontario education minister Stephen Lecce is clear – parents need to be involved if their child wants to change their name or their gender identity. The minister emphasized that parents have a right to know. Activists accused the minister of putting children at risk of homelessness by ‘outing’ them to their mothers and fathers, but Ontario’s Conservative government is sticking to its position.
In Saskatchewan, Premier Scott Moe named a new education minister. The Premier and minister Jeremy Cockrill made it clear: children under 16 need their parents’ consent changes their name or their gender identity at school. Parents also need to be informed and agree to their child’s participation in school sex education.
Education Minister Cockrill, the MLA for the Battlefords, said parents want to be included in their childrens’ education.
Heading into a provincial election, Manitoba premier Heather Stefanson announced new policies to give parents a bigger say in their childrens’ education. The Manitoba Conservatives will enact changes in the Public Schools Act to ensure that parents are involved in addressing bullying and behavioural changes. Parents will also need to be notified about changes to the curriculum and classroom presentations from people outside the school. And they will need to sign off before their child’s image is shared with anyone.
Manitoba NDP leader Wab Kinew, used an over-the-top racial term from the American deep south – “dog whistle” – to criticize the PCs. Wab Kinew and the NDP have recently been losing ground in the polls to Premier Stefanson’s resurgent Progressive Conservatives.
