Canadian Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, currently favored to be the next prime minister, expressed support for President Donald Trump’s executive order recognizing only two legal human sexes on Wednesday.
Poilievre jousted with a querulous reporter by asking how many sexes there ought to be, if not just two.
Bring home common sense: https://t.co/Mlman55m8q pic.twitter.com/fykUMF2kgx
— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) January 22, 2025
Trump rejected radical transgender ideology in his inauguration speech on Monday, stating that it would “henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female.”
The new president promptly signed executive orders repealing the “illegal and immoral discrimination programs going by the name ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’” imposed by former President Joe Biden. One of those orders required federal agencies to provide only “male” and “female” options for sex on their paperwork, including passport applications.
News channel CP24 asked Poilievre on Wednesday if he was prepared to “walk in line” with Trump’s executive orders.
“I don’t know – do you have any other genders that you’d like to name?” Poilievre asked the reporter.
“Me, personally?” the reporter fumbled after an awkward silence.
“Yes,” Poilievre pressed.
The reporter could not come up with an answer to that question, so he fell back to repeating the original question.
“I’m not aware of any genders other than men and women. If you have any others you want me to consider, you’re welcome to tell me right now,” Poilievre replied.
“Well, there’s … there’s … personally, I am a man. We’ll say a cis man,” the reporter stammered.
“Me, too,” Poilievre chuckled.
“There are people out there who say they’re gender-neutral … ahh, they’re a trans person … Is that something you would recognize here, whereas in the states, in the U.S. government, at least they way they’re seeing it, there’s only two?” the reporter finally managed to ask.
“I’m only aware of two, but I mean, if you come up with another list, then you’re welcome to do that. I’m aware of two, and as far as I’m concerned, we should just have a government that minds its own damn business and leaves people alone to make their own personal decisions. That’s the kind of government I’m going to run,” Poilievre declared.
The reporter noted that Canadian passports have an “X” for “other” option, instead of just male and female, as American documents will now require. He asked if Poilievre would favor changing Canadian passports to meet the U.S. standard.
Poilievre said his prospective administration would have much more important issues to focus on.
“I’ve got to be honest with you – I just saw your segment on homeless encampments that are popping up all over Toronto,” he said. “We’ve got 25 percent of our population in poverty. Housing costs have doubled. Crime is rampaging through our streets.”
“I just find it to be a strange priority to spend time talking about this,” he said, meaning the two-sexes issue. “My priority is to give people back control of their lives, and bring back Canada’s promise that anyone who works hard gets a powerful paycheck, and pension that buys affordable food, gas, and homes in safe neighborhoods.”
“That’s the promise we need for Canadians. If Liberals want to talk about different labels for gender that they want to put on passports in the United States, they can do that. I’m going to talk about the things that will bring home Canada’s promise,” he concluded.
The Liberal Party of Canada is the name of the party currently in power under departing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. It has long been the largest left-wing party in Canada, although according to polls after Trudeau’s grievous second term, that may no longer be the case. Another left-wing party called the New Democrat Party (NDP) has been gaining on the Liberals. Poilievre and his Conservative Party of Canada are currently polling higher than both of them combined.
“Denying the existence of trans and gender-diverse people ignores decades of medical and psychological research, as well as the voices of those directly impacted,” Helen Kennedy of an LGBTQ group called Egale Canada said after Poilievre’s remarks went viral.
“Denying the existence of trans and gender-diverse people contributes to discrimination, hate and violence. Trans and gender-diverse people have always and will always exist,” she insisted.
