The Liberals are playing a dangerous word game in which they demonize Conservatives while simultaneously claiming they’re bringing people together.
As she usually does, Catherine McKenna is fear-mongering and trying to capitalize on tragic events for political gain.
After her widely-condemned remarks following the Christchurch massacre, some hoped that McKenna – who always demands that people treat her with respect – would show that respect to people she disagrees with.
Nope.
Instead, McKenna is doubling down on demonizing Conservative Canadians.
Her latest move is to try and attack Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and Conservatives and link them to the wildfires in Alberta.
And there’s an even more insidious use of rhetoric being deployed by the Environment Minister:
She’s implying that Conservatives aren’t Canadians.
Take a look at the text of one of her recent Tweets:
“Across Canada, people agree that climate change is a threat to our country. I don’t understand why the Conservatives are hesitant to join Canadians in the fight against climate change. We’ll keep working with Canadians as we move forward with our practical and affordable plan.”
https://twitter.com/cathmckenna/status/1134586517740015616
First, notice how she pretends that people being worried about climate change somehow equals support for her policies. Millions of Canadians have concerns about the environment, and also don’t feel a carbon tax is a way to address it. McKenna just pretends those people don’t exist.
Then, notice how she says “Conservatives are hesitant to join Canadians,” then says “we’ll keep working with Canadians.”
If Conservatives have to ‘join Canadians,’ that implies that they are two different things.
She’s using a clear rhetorical strategy to separate the idea of ‘Conservatives’ and ‘Canadians,’ as if someone cannot be both at the same time.
What makes it so disgusting is that most polls show the Conservatives in the lead, so McKenna is ‘de-Canadianizing’ the largest political group in our nation.
By implying that Conservatives aren’t Canadian, McKenna is also implying that only people who agree with her are Canadian.
This kind of rhetoric – and the fact that it’s obviously encouraged by Trudeau and the PMO – represents yet another betrayal of Canadians.
Remember, in 2015, Justin Trudeau repeatedly told Liberal audiences that ‘Conservatives are not our enemies, they’re our neighbours.’ It was a nice line, and was part of Trudeau’s ‘Sunny Ways’ image.
If he really believed in ‘doing politics differently,’ then he would still be saying that.
He’s not.
Instead, Trudeau, McKenna, and the rest of the Liberals are now trying to take the status of Canadian away from their political opponents, a demonization tactic that can tear a country apart.
This also comes not long after McKenna emotionally read off some of the mean Tweets she receives.
She expects people to feel sympathy for her, yet shows no sympathy for the millions of Canadians who disagree with her policies and feel that she and Trudeau have done damage to our country. She has no time for them. She doesn’t care about them. She dismisses, demonizes, and now ‘de-Canadianizes’ them.
The reality is that we are all Canadians. Those who support the government, and those who don’t. Trying to take that away from someone – not to mention many millions of people – is not acceptable. We cannot allow our country to be torn apart by the cynicism and manipulations of McKenna and Trudeau.
Spencer Fernando
Photo – YouTube
