Conservative Convention to Consider Resolution Banning Sex-Change Surgeries for Minors

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre addresses the Conservative caucus during a meeting in Ottawa on Sept. 12, 2022. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

With the Conservative Party about to hold its convention, its leader Pierre Poilievre is being asked whether he supports banning minors from getting sex change surgeries.

The party is set to meet in Quebec City from Sept. 7 to 9 and debate a number of policy resolutions, including one aimed at protecting children.

“I haven’t had a chance to study all the proposals at our convention, but we'll take a careful look at every proposal and decide whether or not it lines up with our platform,” Mr. Poilievre told reporters in Ottawa on Aug. 23.

A reporter had asked the Tory leader whether his government would ban “gender-affirming health care,” a term often used by proponents to describe medical interventions such as females receiving full ablation of the breasts or children being put on drugs to block puberty.

One of the Conservative Party resolutions being considered at the convention is called “Protecting Children’s Mental and Physical Health.” It’s being sponsored by the riding of North Okanagan-Shuswap.

The resolution says that a “Conservative government will protect children by prohibiting life altering medicinal or surgical interventions on minors under 18 to treat gender confusion or dysphoria, and encourage positive mental and physical health support for all Canadians suffering from gender dysphoria and related mental health challenges.”

The rationale for the resolution says that those “self-diagnosing and/or being diagnosed with gender dysphoria is increasing dramatically across Canada and the world” and that “children cannot understand or consent to transitioning.”

If the resolution is adopted, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will make it into the party platform.

Canadian Census data from 2021 says that 62 percent of individuals who identified as transgender or non-binary were younger than 35 years old. It says one in 300 people in Canada aged 15 and older identifies as trans or non-binary.

Fiscal Conservative

Mr. Poilievre, who usually focuses on fiscally conservative themes instead of social ones, has not initiated much debate on issues like gender ideology but has recently been drawn into them.

While attending the Calgary Stampede in July, he was photographed beside a man wearing a t-shirt saying “Thank a straight person today for your existence. Straight pride.”

Asked by reporters about the photo, he said “I don’t agree with that shirt.”

The Tory leader was also asked to comment on the decision by New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs to redraft a school policy to require parental consent if a student under the age of 16 identifying as transgender or non-binary wishes to change their pronouns or name.

“This is a provincial policy, I know that Justin Trudeau has butted into that,” Mr. Poilievre said while taking questions from reporters in New Brunswick in late June.

“The prime minister has no business in decisions that should rest with provinces and parents.”

More recently, Mr. Poilievre criticized Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over his interaction with concerned parents. He said Liberals employ “nastiness and meanness” against those who disagree with their policies and gave the example of “Trudeau’s nasty comments directed at Muslim parents.”

This was apparently alluding to a conversation the prime minister had with a Muslim man in Calgary in July, where he said that concerns about gender ideology in schools are fuelled by “misinformation and disinformation” coming from the “American right wing.”

Protests and school walk-outs have taken place over the summer around the issue, with parents and students saying the gender ideology push in education is going too far.

The federal government is supportive of initiatives supporting what it calls the “2SLGBTQI+ communities” and Mr. Trudeau has been a champion of the cause.

Ottawa awarded public relations firm Cossette a $1.1 million contract this summer to “develop, manage, and implement a 2SLGBTQI+ Anti-Stigma awareness marketing campaign aimed at targeted segments of people in Canada.”

The prime minister participated in a Pride flag-raising on Parliament Hill on June 8. There he said that children who do not see a Pride flag at their school should “know that it proudly flies here in your seat of government.”

Matthew Horwood and Marnie Cathcart contributed to this report.