VANCOUVER—Among the thousands of people who gathered to support and celebrate Vancouver’s LGBTQ community on Sunday were Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and federal Green Party Leader Elizabeth May.

Notably missing from the group — and the smiley, celebratory photos of the political foes marching together — was Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, who has declined to participate in any Pride parades this year.

That’s in contrast to previous years, when former Conservative leader Rona Ambrose marched in Toronto’s Pride Parade in 2016 and when former Progressive Conservative leader Joe Clark was grand marshal of Calgary’s parade in 2001.

Political analysts say Scheer’s absence marks both a shift further to the right in the Conservative Party and a fear of alienating voters who might choose to park votes with the upstart People’s Party of Canada instead.

“What is really striking about this is that other politicians with a centre-right mindset — like the BC Liberals or the Non-Partisan Association — they’re always there,” said Mario Canseco, president of Vancouver polling firm Research Co.

But “there’s a group of voters for the Conservatives from the last election, and conceivably for this one, who don’t really care a lot about these issues. So you’re not going to jeopardize your base if you don’t show up for these things, because many of them probably don’t believe in this.”

It wasn’t just Scheer who was absent: a local Conservative Party electoral association marched in the 2016, 2017 and 2018 Vancouver Pride Parades, but in 2019, made the decision to not participate in the parade.

That statement came in response to the Pride Society’s decision to ban the University of British Columbia and the Vancouver Public Library from the parade, because the public institutions had allowed event bookings for speakers Pride said were transphobic.

At the VPL event on Jan. 10 that featured feminist speaker Meghan Murphy, “five speakers asserted that trans women should not be treated as women,” according to Pride. Murphy has gained attention in recent years for her critiques of the trans-rights movement and for refusing to recognize trans people’s gender identities. At the UBC event on June 24, Jenn Smith, an anti-SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identity) activist argued that transgender women are not women because they are “biologically” men.

David Cavey, the Conservative candidate for Vancouver Centre, was not available for comment for this story. But in a July 29 press release, he said that in excluding UBC and the VPL, Pride was not upholding free speech and “intellectual freedom.”

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“As publicly funded institutions, both (UBC and VPL) are obligated to “host” whomever wishes to rent their property — within the limits of the law,” the electoral association wrote in their statement. “They don’t necessarily agree with the speakers. But to punish them for following their obligation to respect free speech, the exchange of ideas and intellectual freedom, is plainly wrong.”

In that language, political scientist Stewart Prest sees echoes of the identity politics that have now taken a firm hold in centre-right politics.

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“We have this emerging movement in right-of-centre politics, and it’s traceable to people like Jordan Peterson who focus on free speech as a sort of absolute…right to speak one’s mind and welcome speakers no matter the topic,” said Prest, who teaches at Douglas College in New Westminster.

“That’s sort of a covering language, but the reality is that it mostly focuses on language or speakers that tend to denigrate or put down marginalized communities, especially parts of the LGBT community in this case: Trans Canadians.”

Andy Holmes, a graduate student who studies Pride parades and their place in politics, said he understands that the Conservative Party would be concerned with freedom of expression and they have the democratic right not to march, but “a lot of the discourse that’s troubling me that I’m seeing is specifically about the denial of trans people, essentially as who they are.”

Data from Statistics Canada shows that hate crimes targeting sexual orientation, as well as hate crimes targeting other marginalized or minority groups, have been increasing across the country.

“I’m concerned that that’s perpetuated by certain politicians who espouse such remarks,” Holmes said.

“It’s interesting that the Conservatives would not march (to counter those comments).”

In a statement sent to Star Vancouver from Daniel Schow, press secretary for Andrew Scheer, the federal Conservatives said the party is committed to “fighting for the rights and protection of all Canadians, including those in the LGBT community, at home and abroad … Mr. Scheer will continue to stand up against hatred and discrimination in all its forms.”

But examples given of motions Scheer has supported — speaking out against repressive actions in Brunei and Russia and supporting an official apology to Canadians who lost their government jobs because of their sexual orientation — are all directed at “other places and other times,” Prest noted.

“We don’t see Andrew Scheer pushing for additional action,” Prest said.

For the Conservative Party fighting to win the upcoming election, it’s all a numbers game, said Canseco: “Right now it’s a situation where they need every vote they can get.”

Canseco said Conservative candidates might be thinking, “ ‘If I show up at this thing, how many people are going to look at me differently who are thinking about voting for the Liberals or NDP or Greens, and how many people are going to be thinking differently who are already voting for us?’ ”

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