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Photo by Peter J. Thompson/National Post

But now, in order to qualify, the federal department of employment demands that the “organization’s core mandate respect … the right to access safe and legal abortions … and the rights of gender-diverse and transgender Canadians.” If you refuse the loyalty oath to Liberal party policy, you can’t apply.

Last year the federal Liberals denied the applications of several pro-life groups because, well, the Liberal party bans pro-life Canadians for running for office under its banner and concluded that if you can’t be a good Liberal then obviously you should be disqualified from public programs.

The groups took the government to court and won. The court ruled that a group could not be excluded from a program just because the government doesn’t like it. There was nothing in the program guidelines that required agreement with the extreme abortion position of the prime minister.

If you do not agree with the employment minister and the prime minister, no summer job grants for you!

In effect, the government was told that it could not conduct itself in a totalitarian fashion when it was presenting itself to be democratic. The government took the point, and redesigned the program so now there is no longer the pretence of democracy. If you don’t agree with the employment minister and the prime minister, no summer job grants for you!

The government was taken aback by the “kerfuffle” — Trudeau’s word — over the imposed ideological oaths, and scrambled to say that it was no big deal. The employment minister, Patricia Hajdu, told churches that they should just check the box on the online form and apply anyway. That’s the hallmark of a totalitarian government: demand public displays of ideological loyalty, even from those who everyone knows do not really believe it. That’s the totalitarian ethos, a cabinet minister who advises pastors to make false statements to qualify for programs their own parishioners pay taxes to fund.