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From: Wilson, Sherry (DH/MS) <Sherry.Wilson@gnb.ca>
Date: Tue, Oct 1, 2024 at 10:00 PM
Subject: Automatic reply: Breaking: Google Censors Anti-Trudeau Ads
To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com>
Thank you for your email.
The constituency office will be closed due to upcoming provincial election, and therefore, emails will not be monitored.
We will be in Caretaker mode until after the election on October 21st, until the new government is formed.
For all urgent requests, please contact Sheena.Williams@gnb.ca
Thanks again for your email.
Hon. Sherry Wilson
------------------------------
Merci pour votre courriel.
Le bureau de circonscription sera fermé en raison des prochaines élections provinciales, et par conséquent, les courriels ne seront pas surveillées.
Nous resterons en mode intérim jusqu'après les élections du 21 octobre, jusqu'à ce que le nouveau gouvernement soit formé.
Pour toutes demandes ugente, veuillez contacter Sheena.Williams@gnb.
Merci encore pour votre courriel.
L’hon. Sherry Wilson
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From: Wilson, Mary Hon. (SNB) <Mary.Wilson@snb.ca>
Date: Tue, Oct 1, 2024 at 10:00 PM
Subject: Automatic reply: Breaking: Google Censors Anti-Trudeau Ads
To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com>
Thank you for your email. I will be out of the office from Sept 19th to Oct 22nd due to the Provincial Election, should you need immediate assistance, please contact Kelsey Flowers at kelsey.flowers@snb.ca or 506-453-6100
Merci pour votre e-mail. Je serai absent du bureau du 19 septembre au 22 octobre en raison des élections provinciales, si vous avez besoin d’une aide immédiate, veuillez contacter Kelsey Flowers at kelsey.flowers@snb.ca ou 506-453-6100
Date: Tue, Oct 1, 2024 at 10:00 PM
Subject: Automatic reply: Breaking: Google Censors Anti-Trudeau Ads
To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com>
Please note that I am currently away from my office due to the New Brunswick provincial election and will be unavailable until after the election period concludes. During this time, I will not be responding to emails related to my ministerial duties. For urgent matters, please contact: EDcommunication@gnb.ca
Thank you for understanding.
Sincerely,
Bill Hogan
----
Veuillez noter que je suis actuellement absent du bureau en raison des élections provinciales au Nouveau-Brunswick et que je ne serai pas disponible avant la fin de la période électorale. Pendant cette période, je ne répondrai pas aux courriels liés à mes fonctions ministérielles. Pour les questions urgentes, veuillez contacter : EDcommunication@gnb.ca
Nous vous remercions de votre compréhension.
Je vous prie d'agréer l'expression de mes sentiments distingués,
Bill Hogan
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Date: Tue, Oct 1, 2024 at 10:00 PM
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To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com>
Thank you for your email. Your thoughts, comments and input are greatly valued.
You can be assured that all emails and letters are carefully read, reviewed and taken into consideration.
There may be occasions when, given the issues you have raised and the need to address them effectively, we will forward a copy of your correspondence to the appropriate government official. Accordingly, a response may take several business days.
Thanks again for your email.
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Merci pour votre courriel. Nous vous sommes très reconnaissants de nous avoir fait part de vos idées, commentaires et observations.
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Merci encore pour votre courriel.
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Date: Tue, Oct 1, 2024 at 10:00 PM
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To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com>
Thank you for contacting the Honourable Rob Moore, P.C., M.P. office. We appreciate the time you took to get in touch with our office.
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If your question or concern is time sensitive, please call our office: 506-832-4200.
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Member of Parliament for Fundy Royal
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Date: Tue, Oct 1, 2024 at 10:00 PM
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To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com>
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Department of Finance acknowledges receipt of your electronic
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Le ministère des Finances Canada accuse réception de votre courriel. Nous vous assurons que vos commentaires sont les bienvenus.
From: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Oct 1, 2024 at 9:59 PM
Subject: Fwd: Breaking: Google Censors Anti-Trudeau Ads
To: <Steve.Outhouse@gnb.ca>, blaine.higgs <blaine.higgs@gnb.ca>, pm <pm@pm.gc.ca>, Katie.Telford <Katie.Telford@pmo-cpm.gc.ca>, kris.austin <kris.austin@gnb.ca>, bruce.fitch <bruce.fitch@gnb.ca>, Bill.Hogan <Bill.Hogan@gnb.ca>, mary.wilson <mary.wilson@gnb.ca>, sherry.wilson <sherry.wilson@gnb.ca>, Bill.Oliver <Bill.Oliver@gnb.ca>, rob.moore <rob.moore@parl.gc.ca>, <Rob.weir.riverview@gmail.com>, fin.minfinance-financemin.fin <fin.minfinance-financemin.fin@canada.ca>, pierre.poilievre <pierre.poilievre@parl.gc.ca>, Richard.Ames <Richard.Ames@gnb.ca>, jill.green <jill.green@gnb.ca>, Jason Lavigne <jason@yellowhead.vote>, jagmeet.singh <jagmeet.singh@parl.gc.ca>, Jacques.Poitras <Jacques.Poitras@cbc.ca>
Cc: premier <premier@gov.ab.ca>, premier <premier@ontario.ca>, Office of the Premier <scott.moe@gov.sk.ca>, premier <premier@leg.gov.mb.ca>, premier <premier@gov.pe.ca>, premier <premier@gov.bc.ca>, premier <premier@gov.nl.ca>, premier <premier@gov.yk.ca>, <ezra@rebelmedia.com>
| PED 28 - Quispamsis | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Party | |
| Blaine Higgs | Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick | |
| Aaron Kennedy | Liberal Party of New Brunswick | |
| Alex White | New Brunswick New Democratic Party | |
| Andrew Conradi | Parti Vert N.B. Green Party | |
| David Raymond Amos | Independent | |
From: Team Blaine Higgs <info@rebelnews.com>
Date: Tue, Oct 1, 2024 at 12:53 PM
Subject: Breaking: Google Censors Anti-Trudeau Ads
To: David Amos <David.Raymond.Amos333@gmail.
Higgs faces the pros and cons of a one-promise campaign
Rather than make costly commitments, PC leader attacks Liberals for what he says is a $6B platform
On the very first day of his re-election bid, Blaine Higgs predicted how the campaign would probably unfold — and so far, he's been proven right.
Other parties would flood the electorate with hundreds of millions of dollars in promises, the Progressive Conservative leader said ruefully as he stood outside Government House.
He would stand alone, he vowed, refusing the temptation to follows suit, and instead stick with his single, marquee commitment: to lower the harmonized sales tax by two points.
He recognized his pitch might require a bit of extra effort from voters to grasp.
"I'm hopeful that people will look a little deeper than what we'll see as probably a continuous string of election promises, or possible musings about election promises, or concepts that could be adopted," he said.
"We're focused on making it cheaper for people to work here in the province and live here in the province."
What's new? Not much
Since then, the PC leader has been visibly frustrated as Liberal and Green promises have piled up, hogging attention and forcing his campaign to denounce them.
His signature promise, reducing the HST, is plastered in giant letters on the side of his campaign bus, but it's not easy to stretch that single message to fill the entire campaign.
"How do you find 32 days of things to say, other than potentially critiquing your opponents?" asks Acadia University political scientist Alex Marland, an expert in political messaging.
"If you're not going to fill that with promises, the question is 'what are you going to do?""
Higgs has made some other, smaller commitments, such as changes to the scope of practice of medical professionals to improve access to primary care.
But increasingly he is spending his time trying to poke holes in his opponents' spending commitments.
Total turmoil
Early in the campaign, the PCs released their estimate of the cost of Liberal Leader Susan Holt's promises, a multi-year total they pegged at $6 billion.
Their list is expansive, going well beyond the official campaign period.
It takes in everything from non-binding resolutions at a Liberal Party policy convention in February, to topics raised during a Holt "listening tour" of the province, to ideas the Liberal leader has outlined in media interviews.
One example: an eye-popping $300-million cost estimate to address the need for 30,000 housing units, which Holt made during an Oct. 6, 2023, CBC interview.
"It's not small," she said of the sum.
Holt repeated the commitment to 30,000 units early in the campaign, but the $300-million figure doesn't appear in the costing document the Liberals have filed with Elections New Brunswick, a requirement under the Transparency in Election Commitments Act.
The Liberals also claim their promise to improve pay for doctors and other primary-care providers carries no cost at all — because Higgs's government announced a new compensation model for doctor billings on Sept. 12 that took effect a few days later.
"This is presumed to be covered and in the fiscal framework due to the September 2024 announcement by the government," the Liberals say in their costing disclosure form.
That led Higgs to complain on Friday that the Liberal promise is "largely a copy" of his own.
"Nothing new here, except less of it," he said. "The only other difference is it's printed in red, so that it'll be covered in red ink."
While
the PCs have pegged the cost of Liberal promises at $6 billion, they've
included proposed initiatives that were mused about long before the
election call. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
As of Monday, the Liberals had pegged the total cost of all their promises at $203 million over five years — leading them to brag that their platform promises are less pricey than Higgs's HST cut, which would cost $1.6 billion in lost revenue a year during the same period.
"The premier has made the single most expensive campaign commitment of anyone on this stage," Holt said during last week's CBC News leaders' debate.
"In fact, his commitment is more expensive than the entire platform that a Holt government is going to put forward, with that single expense."
Holt's campaign did not respond directly to CBC's questions about the PC calculation of $6 billion in Liberal promises or their no-cost promise on primary-care compensation.
Instead, they said in a statement that Higgs "waited until the month before an election to shovel money out the door" to avoid the transparency law's costing requirements.
"Higgs is focused on us, we are focused on New Brunswickers," the statement said.
But the PCs are sticking with their calculation that the Liberals have promised — or at least created expectations among voters of — a lot more spending.
"They promise everything to everybody. Whatever anybody wants, their hands are out, they promise it — but somebody's got to pay for it, and that scares me," said Moncton South PC candidate Greg Turner.
Marland says research indicates that voters tend not to focus on the complex cost calculation of promises, but the math can still influence the campaign narrative.
"If one party is making all these wild promises, opponents and journalists and others want to have a sense of what the implications are all of these promises," he said.
"I'm not sure the average person is going to look at it, but the average person is going to depend on other people to bring it forward, so in that sense it matters."
Historic aversion
Higgs's aversion to costly platforms goes back to his belief that the large government deficits of the past were largely the result of a vicious cycle of impulsive campaign promises.
"What puts governments behind is an elaborate campaign position, spending all kinds of money, and then you can't get out of it, and you're in a [financial] hole for the next two or three years, and by the time you get out of it, you're into another election," he said.
"I refused to get into that cycle when I started this, and I continue to be in the same frame of mind."
Fredericton North PC candidate Jill Green says voters have warmed to the Higgs approach.
Fredericton North PC candidate Jill Green believes voters have warmed to Higgs's approach of announcing less. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
"I think we've shown in the past that we don't make promises we can't keep," she said. "So when we say we're going to do something, they know we're going to do it."
Higgs said last week he hasn't seen a downside to a one-promise campaign — "not in my elections in the past," he said.
But it's unclear that's what voters were endorsing when Higgs won in 2018 and 2020.
Six years ago, the Liberals won the popular vote over the PCs by a wide margin. The Tories only scraped into power — with a minority government — thanks to vote splits and a handful of very close wins.
Two years later, the Tories got a majority, but that may have been less about Higgs's aversion to promises and more about his steady management of the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic — and his notably weak Liberal opponent, Kevin Vickers.
Which could make this campaign the first real test of his faith that the party that promises less can win more.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
506 Comments
David Amos
Methinks Mr Outhouse is quite clever N'esy Pas?
buster jones
Rob Weir PC candidate to replace Fitch in Riverview attended the Truth ceremony at Moncton City Hall yesterday as did I. There was a very long passage spoken about the spirit not having gender. Apparently his head was elsewhere and he was only there for the show when he loved Sherry's insensitive post. Duh.
David Amos
Reply to buster jones
Hmmm
Did Sherry Wilson resign yet
David Amos
Reply to Chantal LeBouthi
The fact that the post was removed from Wilson's Facebook page Tuesday morning should speak volumes
Reply to David Amos
I can’t believe she used that day to try to make political religious points
What a bunch
Higgs is on the Titanic.
Reply to Nanny White
Or the Titan.
Reply to Nanny White
or the Hindenburg
Reply to Nanny White
I dream of being aboard the SS Minnow with Mary Ann
Reply to David Amos
Good one little buddy.
Reply to David Amos
Perfect, I'll sit next to Ginger Grant.
Reply to David Amos
we all did David, we all did
David Amos
Seems that old straight dudes have to define "We" these days eh?
Reply to Jack Bell
I visited the Island long ago seated beside my soon to be second wife
Reply to David Amos
Ginger was not so bad.
David Amos
Reply to Eddy Geek
Define "We"
Reply to David Amos
All us old guys who watched that show when we were much younger
Anyone see Holt list all the accomplishments of the Gallant gov't while she was the chief advisor the other day. I will report them for all to see:
That is a very impressive list, Higgs has his hand full battling all those positives.
Allan Marven
Reply to Ronald Miller
Living in the past bud
Reply to Allan Marven
I would not want to think it happened either if I was a Liberal supporter. Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.
Reply to Ronald Miller
Higgs has his hands full finding worthy candidates. No one wants to (can) work with him.
Reply to Allan Marven
If only he could find failed, recycled candidates like the Liberals, dare to dream.
Reply to Allan Marven
You're right..he's always right. Incredible how smart people like him are,😂
Reply to Ronald Miller
Lest you forget, I am not a Liberal, or a PC, or a green.
Reply to Ronald Miller
There is a lot to see on that list of accomplishments.
Could you sort that out by the year they were accomplished please?
Reply to Allan Marven
But, but, but you're not a fan of Higgs which can ONLY mean you're "from the left" and or are a die hard lib supporter
/S
Reply to Allan Marven
Nor am I
Reply to Eddy Geek
Surely you jest
Eddy Geek
Reply to David Amos
That’s what the /S is about
Sarcasm
It's a matter of values . Eg
" PC candidate compares original 2SLGBTQ+ policy to Indigenous residential schools " CBC Oct 1, 2024
David Amos
Reply to Frank Brace
Go Figure Why I run against such people
Some of the posters here are hilarious!!
If you’re not a fan of Higgs, you MUST be from “the left”
As of those are the only two possibilities
Reply to Eddy Geek
Fan of the green?
Eddy Geek
Reply to James Wolf
Fan of progressive conservatives James
Not regressive cons like Higgsie
Reply to Eddy Geek
Welcome to the circus
Reply to James Wolf
Fan of none of them . Every election I can remember, I have voted AGAINST the incumbent party.
Reply to Allan Marven
IMHO That is the best policy
A man of integrity would cut the HST now if that is his strong conviction. To blackmail New Brunswickers by saying I will cut the HST only IF you vote for me is frankly scandalous. But I said a man of integrity would do it now. Integrity and Higgs do not belong in the same sentence.
Reply to claude bourgeois
He is the premier so obviously the majority disagrees with you.
Reply to claude bourgeois
Claude as this is a money issue it has to go thru during the next fiscal year end. Your business sense is found lacking I am afraid.
Reply to Ted DiBlase
He will soon be a former premier--he is the least popular premier in Canada for a reason.
Reply to claude bourgeois
Will see
Reply to Ralph Skavinsky
He had lots of time to do it. He could have started on Nov/09/2018.
Reply to Ralph Skavinsky
Then he should have done it last year!
Reply to claude bourgeois
He has said he isn't in this for a popularity contest, but to help the province escape from Liberal placed debt while spending where he feels is warranted. And,if you've noticed he is/has spent 1 billion on health as an example...but no you won't of course acknowledge that fact.
Reply to Tom Campbell
He was busy trying to pay off Galllant and his Senior adviser Ms. Holts horrendous debts.
Reply to Ralph Skavinsky
Yeah, a global pandemic will do that, and sky high gouging by corporations, which caused a big jump in inflation, will make you inject $1 billion into the system. Where in the system did that money actually go?
Reply to Ralph Skavinsky
It looks to me like he's been busy hoarding surpluses for election campaign purposes.
Reply to Tom Campbell
You can certainly have your opinion Tom
Reply to Ralph Steinberg
Global pandemic started under Higgs' watch...yes he did a pretty good job in that regard..thanks for agreeing.
Reply to Ralph Skavinsky
Why are you missing the obvious? All provinces have increased their spending since the pandemic. The feds even increased federal funds to all provinces for healthcare, and had a meeting with all provincial leaders and agreed to raise the transfer payments. Again, your deflection and spin is noted. e.g. "he did a pretty good job in that regard"......as did most provinces under all parties......
Reply to Ralph Steinberg
You would criticize Higgs for doing a good job ?? My, my...what lengths will you people go to...
Reply to Ralph Skavinsky
I was criticizing what you stated..........amusing.
e.g. "And,if you've noticed he is/has spent 1 billion on health as an example...but no you won't of course acknowledge that fact."
And my reply was to that. Your response now is illogical. It is spin for spin sake. Deflection by another name.
Reply to Ralph Steinberg
Lol..Ralph ( like that name), you know ypu just wont admit you are spinning your wheels. ..and on that note I have to do "real life" things..later
Reply to Ralph Skavinsky
Amusing, follow the thread, from when I replied, i gave you your sentence....and my reply. I was never spinning, I was replying to your bragging of Higgs spending money on healthcare, all I did was point out all provinces did it, and with increases of funds from the feds, who met with all provincial leaders, they worked together......it was you spinning, trying to brag about Higgs spending more on healthcare, when all provincial leaders did the same out of necessity.
Reply to Ralph Skavinsky
I will give you that someone needed to pay for the horrendous Gallant bailout of Saint John!
Reply to claude bourgeois
Amen
Reply to Ralph Skavinsky
So, according to that.....how to be a good premier. Do nothing, spend nothing, hoard surpluses and voila!!!
Reply to Ralph Skavinsky
And....that I will.
2005 newspaper ad signed by Higgs and three other Irving Oil executives endorsing Irving's Canaport LNG tax break in Saint John.
David Amos
Reply to Ralph Steinberg
Did the same newspaper report my running in Saint John Harbour while intervening in the NEB Hearing the following year?
If the goal is to help New Brunswickers most in need while maintaining essential services, reducing the sales-tax rate is one of the worst fiscal policies that could be implemented, said Richard Saillant, a Moncton economist and public policy consultant.
"This is probably one of the worst moves that he can make as a premier. It's not a sign of leadership," Saillant said.
As an example, Saillant said a household that spends $200,000 per year will save $4,000 based on the tax cut, whereas a middle-class family that spends $50,000 will save just $400.
That makes the tax cut a very "inefficient" way of helping those who need it the most, he said.
I will go with the economist. Not Higgs.
Ralph Skavinsky
Reply to Ralph Steinberg
You would go with Mr.Salliant a well-known Liberal or haven't you been listening...
Reply to Ralph Skavinsky
The math does not fib.........debunk the math.
Reply to Ralph Skavinsky
When did he hold office for the red party again?
Reply to Ralph Steinberg
Mr,. Salliant has an axe to grind Ralph
Reply to Ralph Steinberg
If you care to follow the media over the years you will find him entrenched within the Liberal party
Reply to Ralph Skavinsky
Debunk the math. You can't.
Reply to Ralph Steinberg
"Debunk the math. You can't."
$200,000 + 15% = $230,000
$50,000 +15% = $57,500
$200,000 + 13% = $226,000
$50,000 +13% = $56,500
$4000 for someone who spent $200,000
$1000 for someone who spent $50,000
Done debunking your math.
Reply to Ralph Skavinsky
Mr. Salliant is not very good at math
Reply to Ralph Steinberg
"The math does not fib.........debunk the math."
Either the CBC printed a typo or Mr.Salliant is not very good at math.
Reply to Jack Bell
I'll go with the latter
Daniel Henwell
I'd like to see the tax dropped to 13% We are taxed to death in this country.
Allan Marven
Reply to
Not enough to make a difference to you, or me.
John Montgomery
Reply to
It wouldn't be a problem if wages had kept up with inflation over the last 50 years.
David Amos
Reply to Allan Marven
or me too
PC candidate compares N.B.'s original 2SLGBTQ+ policy to Indigenous residential schools
Sherry Wilson faces calls to withdraw after saying lack of parent oversight made residential schools possible
A Progressive Conservative candidate for a seat in the New Brunswick Legislature is facing calls she withdraw from the campaign after she compared protections for 2SLGTBQ+ students to the systematic taking of Indigenous children from their parents to place them in residential schools.
Sherry Wilson said the federal system of forcing tens of thousands of First Nations, Inuit and Métis children into the schools was "only allowed to happen because children enrolled in school were isolated from their parents' oversight, input and influence."
She implied there was a parallel between that and the province's original Policy 713 — which allowed 2SLGBTQ+ students to adopt names and pronouns at school without their parents knowing.
"We cannot afford to repeat the tragic mistakes that destroyed the lives of thousands of Indigenous families," Wilson, the PC candidate in Albert-Riverview, wrote in the statement posted on social media.
"Therefore I am committed to keeping the parents of minor children aware of, and involved in, their children's development while they are entrusted to our government schools."
Wilson,
the PC candidate in Albert-Riverview, and Blaine Higgs, the PC leader,
posed for a picture over the weekend after they rappelled down a
building for a charity event. Higgs said Tuesday that Wilson's post
'missed the mark.' (Radio-Canada)
The post was removed from Wilson's Facebook page Tuesday morning.
The PC government changed Policy 713 last year to require parental consent if students under 16 wanted to adopt new names and pronouns consistent with their gender identity.
Wilson posted this statement on Facebook on Monday. It appears to have been since taken down. (Sherry Wilson PC for Albert Riverview/Facebook)
PC Leader Blaine Higgs has described the issue as parents having the right to know what is happening in their children's lives, and said at one point last year that "children are being taught to lie to their parents."
But Higgs said at a campaign stop Tuesday morning that there was no parallel between the "trauma" of residential schools and today's policy debate and the post "missed the mark."
"There isn't a comparison to be made there," he said.
Chief Terry Richarson of the Pabineau First Nation urged Higgs to remove Wilson as a PC candidate.
"This woman should not be allowed to run for the Conservative Party of NB," he wrote in a Facebook post.
"Premier Higgs you need to have this woman withdraw immediately. … Shame on you and shame on your party on this day dedicated to the memory of those children who were killed for their beliefs!!"
Six Wolastoqey chiefs also made that call in a statement issued Tuesday.
Higgs said he would not remove Wilson because she had withdrawn the post.
He said it was not written by anyone with the PC campaign and that the party's position on residential schools was reflected in his own post on Monday, which spoke of the "deep wounds" inflicted on those who were forced into the system and their descendants.
The PC campaign did not respond to a CBC News request for an interview with Wilson.
Richardson said in an interview that removing the post was "a step" but said Higgs should apologize to Indigenous people and arrange for training for his candidates on the history of residential schools.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada called the residential school system "a systematic, government-sponsored attempt to destroy Aboriginal cultures and languages and to assimilate Aboriginal peoples so that they no longer existed as distinct peoples."
The goal, the commission said, was "cultural genocide."
Terry Richardson, chief of Pabineau First Nation, urged Higgs in a
Facebook post to remove Wilson as a PC candidate. ( Jacques Poitras/CBC)
Wilson, the minister for mental health and addiction in the PC government, posted the statement on Monday, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
It was liked with a heart emoji by another PC candidate, Rob Weir of Riverview.
Tuesday is the deadline for candidates to register with Elections New Brunswick, so removing Wilson as a candidate could leave the PCs without anyone on the ballot in Albert-Riverview.
Liberal Leader Susan Holt also denounced Wilson's comparison.
"Minister Wilson's statement is completely disrespectful and inappropriate," she said in a statement.
"Clearly it shows her lack of understanding of basic history and is yet another example of this government's disrespect for First Nations."
Liberal Leader Susan Holt called Wilson's statement 'completely disrespectful and inappropriate.' (Pool Camera)
Holt said it was up to Higgs whether Wilson should be dropped as a PC candidate.
"He has certainly kicked people out of his cabinet and caucus when they didn't agree with him," she said by email.
Green candidate Megan Mitton called on Wilson to apologize and for Higgs to denounce the statement.
"This is abhorrent, it's indefensible, and it's completely wrong," she said in a post on X.
Wilson not the first
Wilson isn't the first Progressive Conservative to draw the parallel between policies to protect 2SLGBTQ+ children and the residential school system.
Hampton-Fundy-St. Martins candidate Faytene Grasseschi made the comparison as a Christian conservative activist, before becoming a PC candidate last year.
She told CBC News in a July 2023 interview it was an Indigenous parent who first told her there was a parallel.
"It's an ideology. It's a mindset that says the children belong to the government, not the family, not the parents," she said.
Grasseschi acknowledged the potential consequences of the original Policy 713 weren't as severe as children being taken hundreds of miles away from their families and losing their Indigenous language and culture.
"In terms of children actually physically being taken away to another — yeah, absolutely," she said. "But I think the point was it's an ideology."
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