Juno News - April 21, 2021


Mainstream Media Has Overt Contempt for Social Conservatives


Episode Stats

Length

8 minutes

Words per Minute

162.90323

Word Count

1,313

Sentence Count

75


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 I want to talk about what Peter McKay called the stinking albatross around Andrew Scheer's neck,
00:00:17.900 which is social conservatives in the Conservative Party of Canada.
00:00:21.800 This rhetoric was echoed by Conrad Yakabuski in a Globe and Mail column in which he says
00:00:27.360 that like clockwork, the Tory stalking species known as the stinking albatross returns to Canada each election season
00:00:35.620 after wintering in warmer climes where the culture wars occur year-round.
00:00:40.840 He is taking aim at Cathy Wagenthal, a Conservative MP,
00:00:45.280 who introduced a private member's bill that would ban sex-selective abortion,
00:00:50.140 which is basically abortion that is decided for the sole basis of someone not wanting to deliver a child of a particular gender,
00:00:58.800 almost exclusively because people do not want daughters for various cultural reasons,
00:01:04.180 all of which are rooted in a very misogynistic view that females are less worthy of living than males.
00:01:11.860 And in doing so, she has...
00:01:14.400 And by the way, Cathy Wagenthal has always been a very reliable pro-life member of Parliament.
00:01:19.800 She's never equivocated on this position.
00:01:22.520 She's always been very transparent.
00:01:24.040 And her voters in her riding have rewarded her by re-electing her time and time again.
00:01:29.140 And she's decided that she wants to take aim at this problem, which we know is happening.
00:01:33.220 There's not a lot of research on it, but it does very much occur.
00:01:37.760 And I am, as a pro-life person,
00:01:41.740 slightly concerned with sex-selective abortion restrictions for two reasons.
00:01:47.020 The chief among them is that it tends to mask the problem.
00:01:51.560 If you believe that abortion is wrong because it takes a life,
00:01:54.120 it shouldn't matter what the motivation is for it.
00:01:57.800 The reason I say that is because a bill like this makes it seem as though
00:02:01.300 the intent is the problem more than the actual outcome.
00:02:05.920 The other part of it is that I feel that...
00:02:08.620 And this one is something I'm of two minds on, frankly.
00:02:12.000 It almost is more of a political push towards pro-life policy than anything else.
00:02:19.380 And the reason for that is because it may well be effective.
00:02:21.700 There are lots of people in Canada who are pro-choice.
00:02:25.040 They would identify as pro-choice.
00:02:26.580 But when it comes down to it, they would oppose sex-selective abortion.
00:02:30.700 So bills like this tend to appeal to those people.
00:02:33.700 But in a lot of ways, I almost feel that they mask...
00:02:36.440 Again, if you feel abortion is wrong, they mask what is wrong for reasons that have nothing to do with intent.
00:02:43.080 So it ties into the reason I already mentioned.
00:02:45.920 But at the same time, I don't want to question Kathy Wagenthal's motive.
00:02:50.060 She's been a tireless advocate on this file.
00:02:52.700 She believes what she believes.
00:02:53.880 But it's interesting that now, the existence of a pro-life MP in Aaron O'Toole's conservative party
00:03:02.320 is all it takes for the mainstream media to say,
00:03:06.640 oh, well, Aaron O'Toole's got that hidden social conservative agenda.
00:03:10.380 I mean, look at this story.
00:03:11.560 Look at the photo used for the story.
00:03:13.040 It's a photo of Aaron O'Toole.
00:03:14.460 The entire analysis is based on this idea that Kathy Wagenthal's bill
00:03:18.200 is that stinking albatross around Aaron O'Toole's neck.
00:03:21.120 And a lot of the critics of Andrew Scheer, of Aaron O'Toole, of Stephen Harper,
00:03:26.360 they're not good faith critics of this.
00:03:29.160 They don't actually care about whether the leader is pro-life,
00:03:33.260 whether the party will officially back any policy that's pro-life.
00:03:36.800 They don't want pro-lifers to exist in Canada at all.
00:03:40.700 And they don't, therefore, want any pro-life politicians to exist.
00:03:45.340 And Aaron O'Toole, who literally said in no uncertain terms,
00:03:49.040 I'm pro-choice, I believe in abortion rights, I've always believed in that.
00:03:52.580 Here's when and why I started believing in that.
00:03:55.020 Here's how long I believed in it.
00:03:56.720 I'm not going to do anything.
00:03:58.060 And he's still getting hit with story.
00:03:59.400 Oh, well, you know, the stinking albatross is back
00:04:01.680 because an MP from, I think, Saskatchewan
00:04:04.260 introduced a private member's bill,
00:04:06.280 which, by the way, most Canadians,
00:04:08.320 even those ardently pro-choice, would agree with.
00:04:11.220 So this is why conservatives should never play by the left's rules,
00:04:18.020 should never play by the mainstream media's rules,
00:04:20.180 should never play on their terrain.
00:04:22.420 And this is true whether you're talking about a carbon tax,
00:04:25.100 as we were last week,
00:04:26.160 and it's certainly true when you're talking about social policy.
00:04:29.620 This is what he writes.
00:04:30.500 Eventually, a future conservative leader must understand
00:04:33.720 that playing to the SOCONs is a losing strategy, period.
00:04:37.660 It might help you win a leadership race,
00:04:39.280 but it will leave you with a stinking albatross around your neck
00:04:41.920 of which no amount of flowery perfume can disguise the stench.
00:04:47.560 This is the mainstream media's characterization
00:04:50.120 of people who value life.
00:04:53.280 And one of the things that I found interesting
00:04:55.360 is that pro-life candidates that seek the conservative leadership,
00:04:58.940 whether we're talking about Leslie Lewis or Derek Sloan,
00:05:02.140 they didn't say they expect it to be a socially conservative party.
00:05:06.080 They wanted a party that simply respects
00:05:08.100 that social conservatives are in it.
00:05:10.520 And if the liberals were authentic about representing Canadians,
00:05:13.960 they would recognize that they preside over a country
00:05:17.240 that has social conservatives in it.
00:05:20.700 So whatever the group is,
00:05:22.160 and again, statistics tend to be a little bit tricky on this.
00:05:25.020 My friend Scott Hayward of Right Now
00:05:27.060 has done tremendous work
00:05:28.820 at trying to really look at genuine public opinion on this.
00:05:32.260 And he points out that 82% of Quebecers support
00:05:35.660 restricting sex-selective abortion
00:05:37.400 and 67% of Quebecers support legally restricting late-term abortion.
00:05:43.160 And that's just one recent example.
00:05:45.300 84% of Canadians support legally restricting sex-selective abortion
00:05:49.820 and 70% of Canadians support legally restricting late-term abortion.
00:05:54.820 This is very valid, up-to-date polling
00:05:57.240 that suggests the mainstream media position,
00:06:00.340 the liberal government's position,
00:06:01.960 the elite narrative,
00:06:03.480 is distinct from what ordinary Canadians think and feel.
00:06:08.300 And you may think,
00:06:09.720 okay, well, the conservatives still have to win over people
00:06:12.940 by getting their message out through the mainstream media.
00:06:15.520 Sure.
00:06:16.320 But I do want to believe,
00:06:17.660 and perhaps this is an overly romantic notion,
00:06:20.060 that voters reward authenticity.
00:06:22.100 And when Andrew Scheer couldn't give
00:06:25.200 a very clear position on abortion,
00:06:27.960 which was, well, I'm, you know,
00:06:29.860 yes, I'm pro-life,
00:06:31.120 but, you know, I know I won't touch it.
00:06:32.620 And, I mean, but my member,
00:06:33.700 like, no one knew,
00:06:34.800 even pro-lifers had no idea what he was saying.
00:06:37.360 Whereas Aaron O'Toole
00:06:38.280 has given a tremendously clear position on it,
00:06:40.460 and the mainstream media coverage is identical.
00:06:43.120 He's clearly pro-choice,
00:06:44.200 and the media coverage is,
00:06:45.200 oh, well, yeah,
00:06:46.100 those stinking albatross,
00:06:47.300 stench pro-life people,
00:06:48.720 they're dirty, smelly people,
00:06:50.720 you know, no party wants them.
00:06:51.740 That's really what Conrad Yakubusky is saying,
00:06:54.180 by taking Peter McKay's metaphor
00:06:56.360 and just extending it beyond which,
00:06:59.340 beyond the point at which any metaphor
00:07:01.260 should be extended
00:07:02.600 and still keep its original meaning.
00:07:04.300 So what we have happening here
00:07:07.000 is the beginning of the age-old conservative dilemma
00:07:11.120 of feeling like their problem
00:07:13.160 is not being conservative enough.
00:07:15.680 And I'm not trying to preach to anyone right now
00:07:18.100 on social issues,
00:07:19.080 whether you're watching
00:07:20.240 and you're pro-life, pro-choice,
00:07:21.820 doesn't matter to me.
00:07:23.540 But understand that the conservative movement in Canada
00:07:26.900 has people who believe this.
00:07:29.380 And as we see from party conventions
00:07:31.200 and internal races like nominations and leaderships,
00:07:33.960 there may be more social conservatives
00:07:35.980 than non-social conservatives
00:07:37.420 in the conservative party,
00:07:38.580 but at the very least,
00:07:39.960 it's not a fringe group.
00:07:42.020 And if you look at national polling,
00:07:43.480 it's not even a fringe group in Canada itself.
00:07:46.260 It is just painted as fringe
00:07:48.180 by the people that believe
00:07:49.640 they have a monopoly
00:07:50.840 on which ideas are worth discussing
00:07:53.400 and which ones are not.
00:07:55.320 If you liked watching this clip
00:07:56.740 of the Andrew Lawton Show,
00:07:58.000 True North has lots more for you
00:07:59.800 all over at www.tnc.news.