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Pierre Poilievre stepped into the culture war last Sunday with one video condemns the assault on Canada’s national culture that has erupted under Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government. Some of these are the direct fault of that government, such as the new passports that demean and diminish Canadian heritage.

Other incidents shown in the video, such as statue toppling and university vandalism during last year’s anti-Israel riots, are not directly Trudeau’s fault. But his government has fostered anti-Canadian ideas and done nothing to discourage radical, criminal activism.

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One of the many challenges Poilievre and the Conservative Party will face, should they form government, will be a total dismantling of the Liberal Party’s cultural regime.

Whether it’s allowing crimes like vandalism and arson to go unpunished or doling out taxpayer dollars to those with contempt for Canada, the Liberals have tolerated radical activism without a hint of backbone.

No citizen is motivated to improve their country without self-respect, and no citizen can have self-respect if they are told that their traditions and ideals are meaningless and obsolete.

The great flaw of modern progressive liberalism is the assumption that whatever motivates radical activists must have a grain of legitimacy and therefore must be listened to, no matter how rabid, bloodthirsty or criminal their rhetoric and actions.

Despite their words of encouragement in the video released on Sunday, a Conservative government will not end the “woke weird crazy world of Justin Trudeau” with just words. The culture war exists and is being fought whether people like it or not.

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Those who write off the culture war as a distraction usually fall on the side that wins it. When a liberal laments the culture war and professes their desire for it to end, it is only because they enjoy the status quo.

A nation is not an NGO, which is how Canadian progressives have come to frame Canada.

Uttering the terms “diversity,” “inclusion,” and “multiculturalism” is a trademark exercise that can be heard in the English-speaking world. Ask an Australian in Melbourne what those three words mean and they’ll give you exactly the same answer as a Canadian in Toronto.

These terms are part of a universalist and cosmopolitan language that has no room for patriotism or respect for a distinct national identity.

This has formed the basis for the change of Yonge-Dundas Square, Fort Calgaryand Langevin Block. They have been replaced by Sankofa Square, The “Confluence” and the offices of the Prime Minister and the Privy Council respectively.

Color and style are replaced by a kind of cultural washwater, with all entrenched distinctions erased for fear of causing offence.

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If they win the next election, a Conservative government could put a moratorium on renaming federal and crown properties, but to achieve that and simply declare victory would be a terrible mistake. This approach only freezes the status quo, making it ready for future governments to thaw it again.

The culture war is constant, and the forces that try to erode our cultural heritage are like mold. It can be scrubbed, rinsed and disinfected, but fighting it is ultimately a war of attrition that requires constant vigilance.

A wartime effort requires picking up the sword of federal government power and hacking away at the left-wing ideologies that are degenerating Canada.

This is not a matter of rank chauvinism but of civilizational life or death.

China, Russia, Turkey and others have shown that democracy is not something just waiting to happen in every country. Democracy is cultural and culture is connected.

If institutions begin to delegitimize Canadian historical, political and cultural traditions simply because they originated in the British Empire, that delegitimization will spread beyond statues and street names. If the crown and “capitalism” are destructive colonial imports, why not parliamentary democracy as well?

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Functioning, healthy parliamentary democracies are very rare outside of North America and Western Europe. Once past the East German border, political corruption and authoritarianism begin to rise and do not begin to disappear until the border with Japan. The so-called “global south” is full of dictatorships, strongmen and military coups.

A conservative government must assert itself as the leader of a democratic but distinct people, not the board of an NGO. That is the preferred Liberal approach, which is a celebration of universalism and can only erase Canadian distinctiveness.

What does culturally conservative politics look like? For starters, it can prosecute anyone who participated in the 2020 and 2021 statue-tossings.

There are hours of photos available, and not everyone has a mask. Half the time, that participants and cheering witnesses of the vandalism have their identities publicly listed.

If the participants in the 2011 Stanley Cup Riot in Vancouver can be arrested years after it happened, so can those who attacked public monuments. The message must be that heritage is in fact sacred and that vandalism does not go unpunished.

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Institutions such as the Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) received 16 percent of its funding from the federal government in 2023. WAG has representatives who have pondered about burning artworks in its collection for being too “colonial”, which should be grounds for considering cutting off its federal funding.

The only material worthy of burning is the terrible new Liberal passports, which replaced images of Canadian history with scenes resembling sad images used by NGOs on their websites.

Regarding non-governmental organizations: if a non-profit or other organization comes and asks for a federal grant, any description of Canada as “the countries we now call Canada” or “so-called Canada” on their website or governing documents should be justified for blacklisting, preferably without exception.

The anti-Canadian beast must be starved as much as possible. As with any good Conservative government, finances will hopefully be tight, and taxpayers’ money should be prioritized for those who truly love the country.

Canada Day celebrations should be turned into genuine spectacles every year with federal money, with Canadians only asked to celebrate this truly amazing country and its proud history – not be scolded into reflecting on its sadder parts.

All these solutions are just small pieces of what should be a comprehensive cultural conservative policy. Nonetheless, they are necessary unless conservatives just want to talk about the culture war, not fight it.

National mail

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