B.C. Conservatives who voted against banning ‘conversion therapy’ ousted

SURREY (NEWS 1130) – At least three B.C. Conservatives lost their seats in the 2021 federal election. All of them voted against the banning of “conversion therapy,” which is the practice of trying to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

Tamara Jansen, who was the incumbent Conservative candidate in Cloverdale-Langley City, lost her seat to Liberal John Aldag on Monday.

Conservatives Kenny Chiu and Nelly Shin also voted against Bill C-6. They lost to Liberal Parm Bains in Steveston-Richmond East and the NDP’s Bonita Zarillo in Port Moody – Coquitlam.

The race in Richmond Centre was too close to call Monday night, but Conservative Alice Wong could lose to Liberal Wilson Miao. Wong also voted against a ban on conversion therapy.

“They were amongst that group of 63 Conservative MPs that took the radical position to deny protections for LGBT folks who have been harmed from conservative version therapy practices,” said Vancouver human rights lawyer Dustin Klaudt.

Related articles:

• Federal Liberals revive bill to outlaw forced conversion therapy

• After defending conversion therapy, B.C. MP blocks concerned constituents

Klaudt was a signatory on an open letter calling for the Conservative Party of Canada to clarify its position and intentions on the issue of conversion therapy, should it form government. He sees the B.C. riding flips away from Conservatives a shift in social attitudes in Metro Vancouver suburbs, which have been long thought of as more conservative communities.

“I think it shows that folks in the suburbs are skeptical of the Conservatives’ claims to being moderate, to not having these social conservative values, or being beholden to some of the radical social conservatives in the Conservative caucus.”

On April 22, Jansen weighed in on Bill C-6. After citing a bible verse that included the word “unclean,” she told the House of Commons about a young woman who was “involved in lesbian activity” and sought counselling when she “did not want to continue her lesbian activity.”

Quoting that woman, Jansen said, “If you enact the proposed bill, you are banning the exact support that I desperately needed at that point in my life.”

Related video: Tory MP ignores constituents’ questions about her views on conversion therapy

Klaudt believes people in Cloverdale-Langley City used their ballots to hold Jansen to account for her words and actions, adding she refused to listen to her constituents.

“When several of her constituents tried to reach out to her, [she took] steps to block them from her public Facebook page,” he pointed out.

“I think it’s going to be a sense of vindication for many folks in those ridings,” Klaudt added. “We had MPs that voted out of step with what their community values generally are. And I think that they’ll be glad that they’ll have new representation.”

Vote shows ‘rebuke’ of intolerant, socially conservative views 

As a member of the trans community, Dr. Catherine Jenkins says she’s heartened by the result, and the ousting of these MPs can be seen as a vote against their socially conservative, intolerant views.

“So I think what we saw was a rebuke of attitudes that aren’t inclusive towards LGBTQAI2S+ plus community,” she says.

“I think that often, people just think of what the party positions are on different pieces of policy, but at the end of the day, — it really comes down to individual candidates and their own personal positions on some of these policy issues. I think what we saw was a bit of a groundswell of support against those attitudes. It makes me very hopeful, now, the result last night.”

Jenkins says seeing signs in her neighbourhood supporting the far-right People’s Party of Canada was a distressing experience, but was heartened to see the vote showed those views are not widely held.

“It’s important to recognize that those attitudes haven’t necessarily disappeared. But I think it really just speaks to how important it is to elect representatives that do support everyone’s human rights. We just can’t take that for granted,” she says.

Changing demographics and grassroots campaigning are the factors Jenkins thinks led to these candidates being defeated.

“There’s clearly a change in demographics, across the Lower Mainland. We used to have LGBTQAI2S+ people living in Davie Village, specifically. Now, most communities are accepting enough that we can live, hopefully anywhere. So, I think what we’re seeing is that there are queer people in every part of the Lower Mainland and there are allies in every part of the Lower Mainland.”

Decline in Conservative support throughout B.C. 

Monday’s election results show a decline in Conservative support from voters in B.C., particularly in Metro Vancouver.

“Generally this was a good night in the Lower Mainland for the Liberal party,” UBC political scientist Max Cameron said, though the gains in B.C. were not enough to grant a majority government.

Cameron says one of the issues with the Conservatives in this campaign was their political leanings.

“To the degree that Erin O’Toole pivoted to the centre, he opened up the space on the far right of the country for the emergence of the People’s Party. We did see them quite visible on the campaign trail. In the end not enough to pick up any seats but perhaps enough to drain enough votes from the Conservatives.”

With files from Kier Junos