Could Canadian conservatives copy Trump’s anti-trans messaging?

The president-elect’s final ad push—and subsequent election win—may have Canada’s right looking to lean in on anti-trans messaging

Canada loves to look south of the border at our much bigger and much louder neighbours in the United States, and emulate them. We watch their TV shows, listen to their music and follow their celebrities. Same goes for our politicians drawing inspiration from theirs. 

Conservative premiers like Danielle Smith and Doug Ford, along with Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre, have already taken from Donald Trump’s playbook. And now, our big, boisterous southern neighbour of a country has re-elected Trump as president, with a final campaign push focused on millions of dollars of ad-spending villainizing trans people.

While the anti-trans messaging was far from the sole reason Trump won the election, senior editor Mel Woods breaks down why we shouldn’t be surprised if the Canadian right takes that strategy and runs with it.

Senior editor Mel Woods is an English-speaking Vancouver-based writer, editor and audio producer and a former associate editor with HuffPost Canada. A proud prairie queer and ranch dressing expert, their work has also appeared in Vice, Slate, the Tyee, the CBC, the Globe and Mail and the Walrus.

Read More About:
Politics, Video, Power, Video, United States, Canada

Keep Reading

2025 Pride collections lean heavily into jorts

ANALYSIS: From American Eagle to Target, many of this year’s Pride offerings are bland on bland

Activist groups reportedly gave Alberta list of LGBTQ2S+ books to investigate

ANALYSIS: Action4Canada is calling Alberta’s move to investigate “inappropriate” school library books a “massive win”

Alberta to create standards for ‘age-appropriate’ school library books

Maia Kobabe’s “Gender Queer” and Alison Bechdel’s “Fun Home” are among the books flagged as “extremely graphic”

Rechie Valdez named Women and Gender Equality and Youth minister

Valdez will handle gender in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new cabinet