Poilievre should ignore the gender identity debate
It is a distraction from the serious issues facing Canadians that could alter the election outcome
I made the mistake of posting a comment on Twitter that suggested the gender identity debate was a distraction that Pierre Poilievre should just ignore until elected, and got a flood of posts from women claiming it was the most important issue facing our country. Here are a few that provide some colour to the commentary
What is clear from the comments is that many women have concluded that Trudeau’s gender identity rhetoric is harmful to women, and I agree with that. But the conclusion that Pierre Poilievre should ignore the issue is the logical and sensible choice, at least until he is Prime Minister.
Why?
The many women who posted angry comments on my post had one thing in common - they were upset with Trudeau and would vote to remove him.
Poilievre can safely ignore being drawn into this toxic debate since nothing he says will change the reality that many (if not most) Canadian women are going to vote to remove Trudeau over this issue, and Poilievre’s campaign to be Prime Minister should focus on issues where there is a chance of increasing the number of citizens who will vote for his party. Preaching to the choir is little more than affirmation to those who have already concluded Trudeau must go, and not one step closer to getting Trudeau out of Ottawa.
Elections are about choices and candidates who spend their scarce campaign hours and funds on issues that speak only to those already committed to vote for their election are on a path that is wasteful and self-defeating. Candidates need to spend their resources persuading those who do not yet support them to vote in their favour.
Where Poilievre needs to focus is where he is already focusing - on the damage Trudeau is doing to our energy industry, on the reckless spending and massive government debt our children will have to repay, on the futility of a carbon tax and its affect on household budgets, on the high cost of housing, on homelessness, on the number of young people dying from drug overdoses fueled by Liberal “safe spaces” and encouragement of drug use, on inflation and on the need to bring back common sense to Parliament.
Once elected, Poilievre’s government can both repeal harmful legislation passed by the Trudeau Liberals and enact new legislation that deals with the issues of gender identity and protect both women and children from the harm the left is doing. It is unnecessary to deal with the issue in the election campaign since the voters upset with Trudeau will vote to remove him in any event and the nutcases who think letting biological males compete in women’s sports or use women’s washrooms will vote Liberal regardless of Poilievre’s campaign.
The fact that an issue matters to Canadians is not a reason to focus on it during an election campaign if the sides are entrenched and little change in voting results will be accomplished by debating the issue. My advice to Poilievre is simple - don’t get sucked into a “no win” debate about an issue that voters have already decided and are unlikely to change their minds.
Agree, he has 4 points he hammers on and that’s not one of them:
Axe the tax
Build houses
Make our streets safe
Restore fiscal responsibility