The wrong position on parental rights

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/02/2025 (252 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Many Manitobans assume that the contentious book-banning and parental rights issues have been settled once and for all in the province, but they are wrong. That is because the two men seeking the leadership of the Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party — Churchill business owner Wally Daudrich and MLA Obby Khan — each appear intent on re-litigating those issues once one of them becomes PC leader in April.

At a leadership debate in Brandon on Wednesday night, the two contenders re-affirmed their concern about the issues and signalled their intention to do something about it.

During the debate, Daudrich claimed there is “pornography in schools,” and accused Khan of failing to remove the books from school library shelves while he was a cabinet minister in the Stefanson government.

In front of a large audience, Daudrich told Khan that “You were approached by some of the mothers in Manitoba about pornography in the schools — pornography so egregious that it actually describes 13, 14, 15-year-olds … how to have sex with an animal and how to have sex with your parents. You did nothing.”

Following the debate, Daudrich elaborated on his explosive accusation, telling a CBC reporter that he had seen the books and that bestiality is “what they’re promoting and that’s part of what the book tells.” He refused to say where the books are located, however.

In response, Khan dismissed his opponent’s claim as “factually incorrect” and argued that municipalities and school divisions are the jurisdictions that decide which books are appropriate in their respective libraries.

Khan claimed that when he was the minister of sport, culture and heritage, he had recommended that books about sensitive subjects be moved into age-appropriate areas of libraries. After the debate, he told the CBC that the Stefanson government had been developing rules to accomplish that objective but were unable to implement them before the Tories were defeated in the 2023 election.

On the broader issue of parental rights, Khan was asked about his prominent role in election ads touting the Tories’ commitment to enshrine parental rights, and whether he believed that the party’s position on the issue had cost it support among voters. He responded that he was “very proud” of his stance on the issue, but argued that the party’s position had been poorly communicated during the campaign.

For those who are unfamiliar with the parental rights issue, it is a conservative political movement spreading throughout North America. It seeks to limit what schools teach about gender, sexuality and race. It also aims to increase parental control over how children are taught those subjects.

More clearly, it is widely regarded as a divisive and dangerous effort by opportunistic politicians to enflame moral panic, single out and stigmatize LGBTQ students and their parents, and fire teachers and librarians who do not share the anti-LGBTQ agenda. That is exactly what has happened in some jurisdictions, but not here in Manitoba.

In the spring of 2023, the Brandon School Division board of trustees grappled with the issue and rejected a request by a handful of Brandonites to comb through school library shelves for content those citizens regard as objectionable. A few months later, Manitobans rejected the Tories’ platform in the provincial election campaign, which included a commitment to expand parental rights. Three weeks after that election, Brandon voters soundly rejected pro-parental rights candidates in byelections for two vacant school board seats.

In politics, the ability to accurately read the public mood and adopt policies that reflect that mood is a critical key to success. By continuing to push the parental rights issue, however, Daudrich and Khan are failing to acknowledge and/or accept that most Manitobans do not share their concerns and do not support a policy that would target members of our province’s LGBTQ community.

Khan may believe that the Tories’ parental rights position was only rejected by voters in 2023 because it was poorly communicated, but the reality is that Manitobans — Brandonites in particular — have spoken on the issue and there is no evident desire among the public for a policy that would needlessly traumatize a segment of our society.

If Daudrich and Khan don’t understand that, they are either unwilling or unable to grasp the reasons why their party lost the 2023 election in such a decisive way. If that’s the case, their party’s MLAs face the prospect of a long stint on the opposition benches.