(OTTAWA) The Conservatives would rather “attack children” than manage the cost of living crisis facing many Canadians, New Democratic Party (NDP) Leader Jagmeet Singh said Monday. He was responding to a resolution passed over the weekend at the Conservative Party of Canada convention to frame gender transitions for under-18s.
It’s “a very slippery and very dangerous slope” when politicians get down to deciding what treatments are acceptable or not, he says. Instead, decisions around gender transition among minors should be based on science and “best practices to keep our children safe.”
“As a politician, I don’t know what the right medical intervention is for children,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. I would leave it to medical professionals. »
Politicians instead approach this issue “with blind ideology,” he denounced.
Conservative delegates gathered in Quebec City on Friday and Saturday adopted with a strong majority of 69.2% a resolution to ban medical or surgical procedures “that change the lives of minors to treat confusion or gender dysphoria”.
The resolution gave rise to some heated exchanges. “Canada is watching us,” said a delegate who invited his peers to reject the resolution which, in any case, concerns an issue that falls under provincial jurisdiction. But another delegate insisted it was crucial to “protect our children”.
“As we currently face a cost of living crisis, when people cannot afford groceries, when they cannot find affordable housing, the Conservative Party is more interested in toilets where people go, he asked.
“They want to attack children and the care they receive rather than deal with the real crisis that awaits us? »
Jagmeet Singh was in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Monday morning to meet with students affected by the housing crisis. The cost of a 3 1/2 there is more than $1,800 a month, according to the NDP, and the vacancy rate is just 1 percent.
Jagmeet Singh proposes to reserve the allocation of study permits to academic institutions that prove that they have affordable housing. It also calls for the construction of more units, the cost of which would be shared between the federal government, the provinces and the territories. It also suggests a financial incentive for transforming empty offices into lower-cost housing.
With Joel-Denis Bellavance