Thank you very much for the question. I hope to respond a bit to the previous statement as well in my remarks.

First, I think the political rhetoric encourages and emboldens the playground bullies to mistreat the trans kid, the gay kid or the kid who just looks a little bit different, so it contributes. When you're hearing your political leaders say that there's a conspiracy in schools and that there's a concern around this gender ideology thing, it emboldens that kid—who might be a teenage hockey jock; I know those kids well from my days in those hockey change rooms—to mistreat their trans or queer peer.

Just to set the record straight, I was in the room for Bill C-16. I was also in the room for the effort to ban conversion practice and I did see half of the Conservative caucus vote against the initial iteration of that bill.

I also saw that the previous leader's—Erin O'Toole—removal as leader was contributed to by what I believe was his pressure on the Conservative caucus to ensure a vote in favour.

I would add that there is great concern when you have a politician or a party leader—Pierre Poilievre—going to the defence of premiers in Saskatchewan, Alberta and New Brunswick, who are overriding the charter-protected rights of those children and who are rationalizing and defending the restriction of health care access for vulnerable young people.

I do not believe this is intrinsic to the Conservative Party. I look on my parents who voted Conservative. I have many Conservatives in my circle. I remember reading Ms. Lantsman's article in The Globe and Mail, I believe it was, urging the Conservative Party to leave this homophobia and transphobia behind.

The concern I have is that there is one party in Canada elected into the House that is engaging with dog whistles and rhetoric and I think we see that with the remarks on gender ideology. I don't believe this is intrinsic to Conservatives. I just invite us to make this a non-partisan issue. It's hard to do so when we see this rhetoric continue to be used at rallies and when we see no Conservative member of Parliament, including our age-old allies in your party, speak up internally or externally to express concern.

I watched fearfully as the Conservative Party convention, last September, voted in a policy that would ban me from accessing women's washrooms. I think about the homeless trans woman who's kicked out of her house and her inability to access a woman's shelter if that policy passes into law, despite those feminist organizations wanting to serve her.

I don't want this to be a Conservative issue. I don't want this to be a Canadian issue. However, when your leader and certain members of your party make it a Conservative issue, I will do everything I can to cease that.

Thank you.

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