Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre further clarified his thoughts on gender identity and LGBTQ issues by saying he was opposed to the inclusion of transgender women in spaces reserved for women.
“Women’s spaces should be exclusively for women, not biological men,” Poilievre said at a news conference Wednesday.
However, he acknowledged that it was “not clear” how a Conservative government would intervene in the matter given that many spaces, for example schools or public swimming pools, are often the responsibility of provinces and municipalities.
It remains that “women’s sports, women’s locker rooms, women’s toilets should be for women, not for biological men,” he insisted.
This outing comes a few weeks after he took a stand against “puberty blocker” treatments for minors who wish to change sex.
This position earned him a barrage of criticism from Justin Trudeau’s Liberals. The Prime Minister himself denounced the “ideological aggressiveness” of the Conservatives.
An attack “against freedom of expression”
Mr. Poilievre also launched an attack on the Liberal bill aimed at countering “online harm”, in which a section is reserved for “hate speech” online.
“I wonder: what does Justin Trudeau mean when he uses the words “hate speech”? He wants to say a speech that he hates,” said Mr. Poilievre, who is concerned about “Justin Trudeau’s most recent attack on freedom of expression.”
“Who is going to determine what is considered hate speech? […] In fact, anyone who opposes his radical agenda when it comes to children, he says it’s hate speech,” he accused.
He returned to the “March for Children” against gender ideology which was held in September on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in which many Muslims took part.
“He attacked Muslim parents who demonstrated against his agenda. Will he criminalize these Muslim parents for protecting their children in schools?