Butts’ Attack On Poilievre Backfires

OpinionSpencerFernando

The Liberals love to talk a big game about reducing division, while engaging in the tactics they claim to oppose.

We’re getting a sense of how the Liberals are going to go after Conservative leadership front-runner Pierre Poilievre:

Throw the kitchen sink at him.

That ‘strategy’ appears to have been kicked off by Gerald Butts.

Butts went after Poilievre for his religious greetings.

Yes, that’s what Butts chose to focus on:

“This kind of batshittery is very common with the US *Christian* right. Google Trump and Jesus sometime.

Haven’t seen a US import this unwelcome since the OT shootout.”

When Jonny Bowhunter on Twitter noted that Poilievre also made a similar greeting to the Muslim community, Butts doubled down:

“Similar issue. Why put such a prominent picture of yourself in a religious greeting?”

Yet, why didn’t Butts go after Trudeau for the same thing?

“@gmbutts Twitter awaits your criticism towards your BBF for doing the same….”

Having worked at an MP’s office, I’m well aware that political parties provide basic templates for these greetings. There isn’t some sort of in-depth political plot to them.

Gerald Butts also knows this.

But, he saw an opportunity to go after Poilievre, and he took it, regardless of the hypocrisy.

This line of attack tells us a few things.

First, there is often – among the political class – both an ignorance of and seeming disdain towards Christian Canadians.

It would be considered politically dangerous to make the same criticism about a politician issuing a greeting to Muslims, and it’s notable that Butts focused on Poilievre’s Easter message, rather than his Eid Al-Fitr message.

When it comes to ignorance, saying “He Is Risen” is commonly said among many Christians at Easter. To claim that Poilievre was comparing himself to Jesus represents either a lack of understanding or a willful misinterpretation.

Diversity is our strength…

Let’s look at another aspect of this.

As we know, the Liberals love to say “diversity is Canada’s strength.”

Yet, they seem unwilling to apply that thinking to intellectual diversity, or to diversity of religious belief when those beliefs are held by those who differ from the Liberal political consensus.

Look at the arrogance with which many in the political and media establishment address Christian Canadians.

Even in Butts comments, he makes an immediate attempt to ‘other’ Poilievre and Conservatives in general for the “He Is Risen” greeting, implying that it’s an import from the United States.

Funny how that was the same message – US interference – that the Liberals and establishment media tried to use in order to demonize the Freedom Convoy.

Despite most contributions and supporters being Canadian, the Liberals – including finance minister Chrystia Freeland – labelled it a ‘foreign-funded occupation.’

Dismissing domestic criticism as ‘foreign funded’ is a long-time tactic of authoritarian states, and when that tactic is used without evidence to back it up, it presages a concerning direction for our country – especially when paired with legislation like Bill C-11 & C-36.

The politics of division

The Liberals often slam their opponents as ‘divisive.’

And yet, Butts trying to demonize someone because of an innocuous religious greeting is the same kind of divisive politics the Liberals claim to oppose.

That brings us to the objective truth that Justin Trudeau has been the most divisive Prime Minister in Canada’s history.

Why do I say that’s the objective truth?

Because he holds the distinction of the two weakest ‘wins’ in the history of the country.

In 2019, the Liberals won about 33% of the popular vote, the worst result for any party that went on to form government.

In 2021, that number fell to 32%, setting the new ‘record.’

The 2021 results were even worse than it appears on the surface, because overall turnout went down. So, despite population increases, the Liberals won a smaller portion of a smaller overall voting electorate.

While Trudeau has received a bump in the polls since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, this is due to the ‘rally around the flag effect,’ (even Trudeau’s biggest opponents don’t want him to fail when the stakes are so high). The long-term trend has been that Trudeau becomes less popular the longer he is in office.

This isn’t only due to scandals, it’s because his stated values and his actions are so divergent.

The 2021 campaign was among the most – if not the most divisive campaign we witnessed from the party in government.

After initially opposing mandatory vaccinations, Trudeau flipped during the campaign, exploiting vaccination status as a wedge issue to divide Canadians and ostracize a large group of the country.

Trudeau was signalling to his supporters that ‘these people’ were people who hate and anger could be directed towards, and he did it all to try and stay in power.

The consequences of such divisive political tactics don’t go away when the election ends, and the level of anger in the country has been ratcheted up since then.

Then, when Trudeau announced the vaccine mandate for truckers without any scientific basis for doing so, opposition coalesced into the freedom convoy, which – despite claims to the contrary – achieved significant success in pushing many politicians in this country to end mandates and open up sooner.

As Prime Minister, Trudeau holds not just a political position but also a position that is imbued with symbolism. That’s why reaching out to opponents and critics can be so powerful, as it sends the message that even when we disagree we are part of the same nation.

He could have met with some of the truckers, as Senators in the US did:

Trudeau refused to do that.

Instead, he demonized the truckers, left Ottawa, and continued to demonize them.

And, as we all know, he then invoked the Emergencies Act, gave banks the power to seize bank accounts without a court order, and plunged the country into a chilling-effect that seems designed to make opponents of government power more fearful and tentative.

It doesn’t get any more divisive than that.

Any tactic will inevitably backfire

If you look at the response to Gerald Butts’ Tweet, you’ll see that it backfired significantly.

And it’s no surprise that it backfired.

The tactic of endless division can work for a while, but sooner or later people get tired of it.

Further, with more and more Canadians thinking independently and willing to speak out against government power and hypocrisy, people will increasingly call out the tactics employed by Trudeau and Butts.

Canadians are looking for leaders who respect them, who empower them, and seek to free people to achieve their best, not divide and demonize people to keep us at our worst.

Spencer Fernando

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