On Parliament Hill

Many of us remember Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s rebuke of a young woman at a town hall meeting back in February. The woman was trying to ask the Prime Minister a question about why his government was attacking religious charities with their new Canada Summer Jobs attestation – forcing applicants to agree with Liberal Party values in order to receive funding. The woman used the term “mankind” at which point the Prime Minister interrupted her and snarkily stated: “We like to say peoplekind, not necessarily mankind, because it’s more inclusive.”

Needless to say Mr. Trudeau’s peoplekind remark, and the attitude with which it was given, received worldwide negative media attention. Mr. Trudeau tried to pass off his comment as a joke. But it was no joke. Rather, it was just another example of the Trudeau Liberals’ needless and exhausting obsession with gender and a harbinger of things to come.

Just last week, Service Canada employees were directed internally to stay away from terms such as Mr., Mrs., father and mother and to “use gender-neutral language or gender-inclusive language.” The directive goes on to state: “This avoids portraying a perceived bias toward a particular sex or gender.”

Really?

Here’s my question to any constituent or Canadian that has had to deal with Service Canada, CRA or any other government agency lately: are the gender pronouns used really the problem? Is this really what the Federal Government of Canada should be prioritizing?

I think most Canadians would agree that long wait times, leaks of personal information and the inability to get a person on the phone are of far greater concern than being called Mr. or Mrs., Mother or Father.

Hard working public servants, like those of Service Canada, should not have big brother government continually looking over their shoulders. As Christie Blatchford wrote in the National Post this week, “The last thing they, or the rest of us want, or need, is more gendered language instruction and social engineering from this strangely obsessed government.” Moreover, if the Trudeau Liberals spent a little less time playing language-cop they could find the time to fix the Phoenix pay system so Service Canada employees can actually get paid properly for the work they do.

Difficult as it may be for Mr. Trudeau and his fellow ideologues to fathom: The vast majority of people don’t mind being called Mr., Mrs. or Ms. Most parents – whether biological or not – have no problem being called mother or father. Rather, it’s a badge of honour and one that the vast majority of parents wear proudly. These titles are a sign of respect, not disrespect. In fact for many Canadians, particularly Canadian seniors who are regularly in contact with such services, it is nothing short of insulting to be addressed without the respectful Mr. or Mrs.

And for any individual who does not wish to be addressed as Mr. or Mrs, all they have to do is ask.

So Mr. Trudeau, enough with your gender politics and your identity politics.” Stop dividing Canadians by pitting one group against another. Stop focusing on these boutique non-issue issues. Stop virtue signaling both here and on the world stage and actually get something done for Canadians.

This isn’t an issue of equality or diversity, it’s just plain dumb.