The short answer:
I will never vote for any (current) Conservative party because their view for what society should become do not remotely match my view for what Canada should become.
The long answer:
A lot of what I will say is related to any current conservative party whether it be Canadian, US, or from somewhere else. They all currently seem to have very common themes and they are all very selfish to extremely racist/classist/narcisistic/fascist. None of which helps society as a whole.
And since Canada is going through a federal election, I’ll be focussing on the Canadian Federal Conservatives and their current leader, Pierre Poilievre.
Reason 1: The Candidate
Pierre Poilievre (PP) has never really held an actual normal job. He’s only ever been a politician. Which is fine and all if you just want to be a politician but if you want to be Prime Minister (PM), I believe you really ought to have some real world experience, not just a political one. The more real world experience someone has, the more they have dealt with real world people living real world lives. If all you have is one that is only political, and a political one with only one party or point of view, your point of view is extremely one dimensional. PP, I have to say, is one dimensional and not well rounded for the role of PM. Granted, Mark Carney (MC) seems to have had jobs in very lofty positions but at least he has had jobs outside of politics. To me, as well as all the other candidates, they have far better work experience for the role of PM than PP.
“But this is a weak argument!” you might say. True. But it won’t be the only argument I have against PP. Since he has been a politician for so long he has had a voting record of what he has done in Federal Parliament. So I will be binging that up as well.
Reason 2: The Party
Take a look at the candidates of each party. You will see something rather interesting. Do the conservatives look like the demographic of Canada? Mostly white men? When the Trudeau Liberals made their cabinet over the last bunch of years, I would say the photos of those cabinets were very multicultural and very respective of what Canada looks like. Take a look at Harper’s cabinet and compare. Stark difference. Are all these white men, some white women, and less than a handful of any other cultural backgound individuals represent Canada? I would argue no. And they will be more concerned about their privileges instead of actually representing all Canadians. And past Conservative governments, and current Provincial Conservative Governments have proven that over and over again. So no. I want a party that will represent all Canadians. Not just white ones that are well off.
Reason 3: Healtcare
Allowing Discrimination by Disguising it as Belief
Very much like the Nationalist Christians in the USA right now. They have a problem with doctors, nurses, and whoever else in the medical field having to go against their beliefs whatever they may be. This I find very dangerous as it basically saying that anyone in the medical field can act discriminatory towards their clients and justify that discrimination because of their beliefs. Whether it be providing an abortion, assisted suicide, providing birth control, or even providing services in general (I.E. Quebec has a problem of discriminating care toward First Nations clients.) This is not Canada. We have a universal healthcare system that ‘should’ work equally well no matter the client and no matter where you are in Canada. This view from the Conservatives is dangerous in my opinion as it will lead to Canadians falling through the healthcare cracks that these discriminatory decision making will create.
Vaccines
Similar to allowing medical staff to act discriminatory based on their beliefs the want the people to be able to reject sound medical advice and vaccines because they feel they know better because of their beliefs.
There was a time in history where religious beliefs trumped science. It was called “the dark ages” because the Catholic church meddled in the affairs of science and for decades prevented scientists from contradicting the stupidity of the church. This was not a great or even “just ok” time for people as they died from heavy handed stupidity of the church.
Also, look at Texas again. Because Robert F Kennedy Jr (RFK)is now head of the the health organization in the USA and we now have a measles outbreak there a few kids have already died from the disease. Measles is killing kids again! Because RFK is a anti-vaccination conspiracy supporter and is convincing the people who believe him. Everyone who has studies history knows what happened before and after a measles vaccine. It works! It is a huge embarrassment for the USA that kids are dying again because of measles. I am expecting the iron lung machines to come back at some point (I.E. polo.)
Abortion
PP has stated abortion is off the table. But in the past PP voted for an abortion ban. His party still fully support such a thought. So I believe they will bring it back if given a chance. And an Abortion ban is very bad. Abortion, on the face of it, I do not like it, but, it can be medically required. It can save lives. I do not buy the logic of any pro-life person that life starts at conception but then turn around and ignore the lives of kids and women who actually exist. Abortion is healthcare. Is it only a decision that is the sole responsibility of the woman involves and her chosen medical representative. Everyone else can ef off. Plus just look at what is happening in the USA where states have immediately implemented a strict abortion ban. Look at Texas. As soon as it went into effect, maternal mortality rate as jumped significantly. 30-50%! Mortality rates should be dropping in modern times! Not going up! This all because of an abortion bad. This is disgusting what the USA is doing here because Donald Trump (DJT) and the Republicans managed to get the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. I do not want any of that here in Canada. And again, I do not trust the Conservatives to let this topic alone because deep down, they still hole the very extreme Christian beliefs about this topic at the detriment to all women in Canada. They will want to implement it.
Gender Identity
PP and the Conservatives believe there are just two genders and that there are two genders in biology, xx and xy. And all this pronoun stuff and bathroom stuff is dangerous and disgusting.
And my opinion here. I have no problem with people wanting to live their life as they will feel happy about. And for the most part, it harms no one. All the reactions I see about all this is routed in false religious beliefs. If they actually followed their religious beliefs they would know that God loves all his children. This includes everyone who identifies as LGBTQ2S+. So anyone advocating to ‘correct’ this is really not following any known religion worth calling a religion. They are just justifying their discrimination by hiding behind their belief system. And that is not Canadian.
Plus. Biology is not perfect. Just look at yourself and your parent and your siblings and your children. Is everyone exact carbon copies of everyone else? No, definitely not. Even twins may look the same but their personalities can vary a great deal. This is because reproduction, the eggs, the sperm, the cell division, everything, is not a perfect process. Mutations can occur due to environmental effects. Stuff happens. Even the two genders from a DNA chromosome standpoint is not guaranteed. xx and xy are not the only two options. You can have xyy, xxy, xxx, xxyy, xxxy, xxxx, and a single x as potential possibilities. Not as common as xx and xy but these do exist. So someone arguing for just 2 genders is conveniently ignoring science.
PP voted no to same sex marriage.
Reason 3: Science
Which nicely segues into the next topic. Science. Conservatives do not like smart people and their science stuff that proves them wrong or does not fit with their backwater beliefs. Even in Harper’s government, which PP was a part of, they stifled scientists preventing them from presenting their research finding and funding certain research. PP in their document about what they want to do for Canada continues this meddling in the affairs of science. They want to be the middle man and dictate what can be released to the public (disease outbreaks, health advisories, etc.) and what can be funded.
Science does not work well when the ability to follow the curiosity of the scientist is handcuffed. You are just creating another sort of dark age. And we all know (or should know) that is not a good thing. Keep science free of the politics (or really religion that is pushing the politics) and let them explore. They already have a lot of ethics and laws to keep them from running amok.
Reason 4: Climate Change
Since they really do not like science, it is no wonder they do not really take climate change seriously or at all. Conservative party is very much prairie based and a big support for them is the oil industry. Big oil makes profits hand over fist and we still give them subsidies and let them get away with bad behaviour? I am sorry, they do not need any more handouts. They need to start using their profits instead of relying on government funds.
Maybe only allow big oil subsidies if they propose alternate energy projects. If any industry that could make a world changing shift it would be big oil. If only they had the vision to do it. I bet if they wanted to, they could probably roll out a hydrogen fuel system, placed at their gas stations within an year. That would make a world of difference for air quality everywhere.
Reason 5: Gun Laws
Conservatives want a more USA gun environment. I wonder if the NRA sponsors them.
In short, USA gun violence is the leading cause for a lot of problems in the USA. Leading cause of child death.
I really do not want us to reach parity with the USA on guns and gun violence. We have enough problems as it is with the illegal imports of guns FROM the USA. Our laws are good. If anything they should be stronger, tougher. But that is not what the Conservatives want. I do not want what the Conservatives want here.
Reason 6: First Nations
Apologies to the First Nations for bringing this up at point number 6. The ordering is not in any particular order.
UN release a report with something like 90 recommendations about what Canada has done to the First Nations. Harper’s Conservatives were in power and PP was a part of that government. Did they implement any of those 90 recommendations? No. If I remember correctly, not a one.
Justin Trudeau (JT) and the Liberals (LIBS) do not have a perfect record when it comes to the First Nations either. However! JT and the LIBS have apologized to the First Nations and made some reparations. There was a number of First Nations that didn’t have potable water (it was a double digit figure when JT and the LIBS took office) and now I think that figure is down to single digit level. So they did something. However they have still blocked some First Nations issues in litigation instead of resolving it via some other means so they are not perfect.
From PP and Conservative documents it looks like they, like the science, want to meddle in the affairs of the First Nations governance. Which means they want a say where money is going to go and dictating to the First Nations how to actually govern themselves.
So in short, PP and the Conservatives have a disdain and disrespect for the First Nations that is unmatched by any of the other parties (except for maybe the other conservative party PPC.) This is not Canadian in my opinion.
Reason 7: DEI
Although they do not specifically call it DEI in their document but what they wrote is sounds very much like DJT’s Anti-DEI rhetoric. They want “Merit” based hiring practices. But this feels like the double speak that you hear with the Republicans and what they really want is to ensure that white people or friends are preferred over actual qualified candidates.
Considering what their party looks like and what Canada’s population looks like, I do not think “merit” is what they are asking for.
Reason 8: Defunding the CBC
CBC is one institution that is genuinely Canadian. However lately, with internet and streaming, have they kept up? My feelings are mixed here but I really do not want politicians to mess about with this willy nilly.
Most of Canadians’ media is actually run by Conservative funded interests like Rupert Murdock. So trying to get an unbiases, non-conservative view from our new media is concerning. I worry that media outlets are becoming more like Fox “News” and other very right wing media outlets in the USA where they blatantly say false things without any pushback or legal issue. And you can see what has happened there. Fascism is steamrolling through the USA at an alarming rate. I really hope they survive DJT v2.
I wish News outlets were required to be as boring as possible and not inject any opinion, spin, or bias. That, I believe, is what news reporting should be.
Reason 9: Privatization
They do not really come out and say it anymore but they still like to push it. They like to privatize energy, healthcare, and insurrance. My stance here is that not everything should be privatized. Not everything should have competition. Somethings should be run in such a way that it fulfills the need for which it is being run.
Any service that is privatized means letting a company run it for profit. Problem I have is that, once a company takes over to run the service, they will do so for profit. The result, the service that the for profit company provides is fighting for equal footing for the “for profit” of the operation. This means that either the service suffers or the cost to the client (Canadians) increases for the same level or service. All because of profit.
Even at my company that I work for. They list something like 8 “core values”. Because my company is a publicly traded company, one of those core values is “to make a profit.” And this has and continues to rub a lot of the employees the wrong way. It is understood that we are a for profit company, you do not have to keep plastering it an inch from our faces every time you get. In the end, I see a lot of the decision making or desired outcomes of those decisions as, “how much money will we make!” Our services, products, or clients be damned. Where’s the money!
For something like universal healthcare, profit should not be anywhere in the solution. It should only be run for the health of Canadians. No for profit hospitals, clinics, and insurance. Moving anywhere toward a USA solution, which is horrible, is a bad thing. In the USA, the for profit system on average charges $41,000 (CDN) just to give birth to a baby (that is if all goes according to plan.) For profit insurance companies denying claims because that ends up improving the profit. The only reason USA has low wait times is because it does not have to serve everyone in the USA. Canada should not be looking to the USA for what a quality healthcare system should be. Hell, I just had two minor surgeries recently her in Canada. My cost, other than what I pay for through taxes for health insurance? Parking fee and transit fare. My father just had hip replacement and my mom a new eye lense. Cost for them, parking. Cost of health care for an ex co-worker in the USA for his disabled kid when the child was young. Bankruptcy and then he joined the military because that was the only employer who would provide healthcare for his son. The two countries healthcare systems are not the same.
Privatization is often argued with competition to driving down prices. Often that does not always end up being true. Especially with insurance. Insurance is a very socialistic idea (communistic for those who cannot differentiate socialism and communism.) Everyone under an insurance pays into a pool of money and then pull from that pool if and when they need it. The problem is that insurance works best, and is the cheapest, with the largest possible pool of people. Competition fractures that pool. And so if you have localized insurance agencies and then a localized problem that requires a pull from the insurance, the local insurance will likely not be able to pay out. You see this time and again in the USA for something like flooding insurance. The local insurance company either weasels out of paying or just collapses and everyone who payed into the insurance gets nothing.
Health insurrance should be a single entity. (Even in Canada I feel it should not be a per province system, it should be a Canada wide system.) The larger pool of people the lower the risk, and the cheaper the cost to each Canadian. Competition does not help. For profit companies do not improve anything. Privatization does not improve anything. If you want to improve universal healthcare. Audit. Find what needs fixing, and then fix it.
My father worked for or worked with a Swedish company at some point in his career. He was talking with the president or owner of that company. What he said was something along the lines of “Some things that are socialistic can also be very capitalistic.” What was he getting at? What is a very capitalistic thing to do for a company? Reduce cost to improve your profits. Universal Healthcare, almost universally, costs way less than any other solution. More profit. But there are other studies as well. Healthier employee, happier employee. Happier employee, happier company. More profit.
The argument I am trying to make, embrace some socialism. It ends up being better for everyone. No one is saying to completely go full on socialism. But some socialistic ideals are very good for all. Healthcare being one of them. Insurance for certain things like healthcare and cars is another. Energy and water, whatever everything needs and depends on day to day should also be government run, not for profit and rock solid stable.
Reason 10: Woke
Just like the Republicans in the USA. They like to criticize people for being ‘woke’. Whenever I have seen this used as a negative from these people it is for complaining about how…
… someone is being empathetic to the plight or difficulties of others.
… someone showing respect for another’s identity or their right to happiness.
… someone is using ‘science’ and ‘facts’ to suppress someone’s perceived faith based ‘truth’.
… someone rightfully is being critical of past misdeeds made by figures that used to be held in high regard.
Probably more examples. All of them are bogus. They used to use the term “snowflake” because they felt that people would ‘meltdown’ at the slightest things. Now a days, I see the conservative acting more “snowflake” about the “woke”.
PP has used the term often and from what he say when using it like here…
… he is meaning that he wants to be the gate keeper and censor.
I do not mind if someone calls me woke. Coming from a conservative, that would be a compliment. It means that they recognize that I am sensitive to other’s identity, situation, and feelings. It means I listen to smarter people than me about things I do not have a full grasp on. It means I do not put up with “because that’s what we’ve always done” and tradition when it turns out that we should actually do something else. I will gladly be woke.
I wonder if I should wear but button with just “woke” on it. Or “woke a.f.” in rainbow colors.
Reason 11: Helping Canadians
They keep saying they want to help Canadians but they seem to keep advocating the opposite. I know some will say that the things PP has voted on had more to it than just what is being said but still, the majority of what was voted on was for the main reason. The secondary stuff could have been addressed or dealt with later.
PP voted no to raise minimum wage. Someone should not need to do more than 1 full time job to have a life. Minimum wage was introduced for a reason and that reason has been conveniently ignored as minimum wage has not kept up with inflation. So this vote was not for the benefit of the average Canadian.
PP voted no to first home savings account program. Something that would help Canadians to get into the housing market.
PP voted no to $10 a day daycare. Compared to what it was costing parents (single or not) $10 was a significant savings.
PP voted no to a kid food school program. Keep them hungry is helping Canadians. Studies have shown, to improve kids’ performance in school, feed them.
PP voted no to a child benefit. He wants people to have kids but not help them when they actually have kids.
PP voted no for dental care for kids.
PP voted no on pharmacare and denticare.
PP votes yes for a significant healthcare cut. Again, does not really care about kids. The future of our country. Does not really care about the medical wellbeing of Canadians. Healthcare needs funding. We are probably not spending enough on it or it needs some reworking. However pulling funds is not going to improve anything. Wait times will just get longer. Care will just get worse. Neither of which is helping Canadians.
PP voted no for COVID relief. When Canadians were struggling because of COVID he wanted them to tough it out instead.
PP voted no for a middle class tax cut. They keep saying they would cut taxes… I guess only if they do it and not anyone else.
PP voted no for Old Age Security increase for those 75 and up. Old people are not important I guess.
PP voted yes to raise retirement age to 67. This was reversed eventually but it says he does not want to start paying pension or anything related to retirement too early.
PP voted yes for scabs. A scab is someone who crosses a picket line. A picket line is composed of people at a company who are on strike because the company and the employees have some disagreement or impasse that is not being resolved. Why is a scab bad? It is a form of abuse of the company against the employees. Instead of resolving the issue they have with the employees, they prefer to continue operations under the same conditions that they are being criticized for. This vote for scabs is not a vote to help Canadians.
Final Words
Still here?
The above are my reasons for never supporting the current “Conservative” movement. To me that conservative has really devolved to being associated with ignorant and the discrimination no matter how they disguise it. I really do not care if their financial platform is the bee’s knees, which I do not think either; I cannot support them for the above reasons.
Update 1: More Reasons
Reason 12: Who they support and who supports them.
They are not shy with supporting known people who are racist, white supremacist, classist, fascist, narcissist, whatever else you can mention along these lines. Hate and non-inclusion is core to some of these people. And the party and Pierre does not actively disavow any of it. That’s not my Canada.
Reason 13: I question their financial acumen.
Pierre, on a few occasions has promoted crypto and wanting to mess about with the federal reserve. Any economist or anyone with any sort of business sense laughs at any of that nonsense. Crypto is known to be highly volatile. So unless you are interested in bankrupting the country, go all in on crypto. Absolutely bonkers.