Conservative women take on Trudeau’s feminism

Rachael Harder took it as a personal insult.

“Women and girls from across this country had a prime minister stand up and say, ‘As the prime minister of Canada, it is up to me to dictate whether or not you hold the right beliefs,’’ said the Conservative MP for Lethbridge, Alta.

“What prevents him from saying that to any one of the women in this room?’’

She was speaking to a crowd of Ottawa-area Conservatives gathered at a pub overlooking the Rideau River one weeknight last month, refering to the time last fall when Liberal MPs on the House of Commons status of women committee decided to block her nomination as chair over her views on abortion.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau backed the move, saying the committee should be led by someone who would unequivocally defend the rights of women.

“There is a prime minister that claims to be a feminist prime minister,’’ Harder, the Conservative critic for the status of women, said in an interview.

“Yet, he has shown very little to no respect for personal choice or individual liberties among women.’’

Trudeau has made the push for gender equality a top priority for his Liberal government.

The gender-balanced budget. The feminist international assistance policy. The proposed gender chapter in the North American Free Trade Agreement. The G7 gender equality advisory council, featuring none other than Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai.

And, of course, the becauseit’s-2015 response when a reporter asked Trudeau why he chose to name an equal number of men and women to cabinet.

The Liberal government has firmly branded itself as a feminist one. So, where does that leave a Conservative woman who considers herself a feminist?

Sabrina Sotiriu, 31, who came to hear Harder speak that night, said it leaves her frustrated. And, reluctantly, a little impressed.

“I hate it,’’ she said with a laugh, “but I think it’s very successful.’’

Sotiriu, a Conservative staffer on Parliament Hill, said the Liberals have done a good job of defining feminism on their own terms, so that if critics disagree with the Liberal approach to gender issues, or the economy, they’ll be dismissed as an anti-feminist.

“You know, you have to be progressive and progressivism has to do with feminism and if you’re not progressive, you’re not feminist,’’ she said.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau suggested as much when he appeared before the House of Commons finance committee to discuss the budget, which had undergone, for the first time in Canadian history, a gender-based analysis.

“Isn’t this just a way to get a woman’s vote?’’ Conservative MP Lisa Raitt, the deputy leader of her party, needled him at the meeting.