Harold Albrecht walks a political tightrope
Kitchener-Conestoga MP Harold Albrecht is walking a tightrope between his own values as a social conservative and the changing nature of the people he represents.
Never was that more clear than last week in Parliament, when he was one of a handful of MPs who did not stand to recognize the apology given by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the historic discrimination suffered by gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
Conservative party leader Andrew Scheer stood, and said he represented the whole caucus. But Albrecht stayed seated, saying later that Trudeau’s statement “went beyond an apology.”
What did Trudeau say that Albrecht objected to? It was this message to children:
“To the kids who are listening at home and who fear rejection because of their sexual orientation or their gender identity and expression, and to those who are nervous and scared, but also excited at what their future might hold: we are all worthy of love, and deserving of respect.
“And whether you discover your truth at six or 16 or 60, who you are is valid,” Trudeau said
That’s what Albrecht couldn’t quite take. “When you start talking about six-year-olds, in that context, I’m not there,” he said.
Albrecht said Tuesday through his staff that he “doesn’t have any further comment on this topic.”
Even as Albrecht’s refusal to endorse all Trudeau’s remarks place him on the right wing of the right wing in this country, his “let children be children” belief would resonate in many parts of his riding.
The world is changing fast, but cities are changing faster than the rural areas Albrecht represents in part of his riding.
In the farms, towns and villages of Wellesley, Wilmot and Woolwich townships, there are undeniably plenty of people who are sickened by discrimination against sexual minorities, but who nevertheless might balk at the idea of a five- or six-year-old “knowing” that he or she was born the wrong gender.
They might think that hormone blockers, which delay puberty in order to buy time for a gender reassignment to happen, are unwarranted.
Albrecht’s riding of KitchenerConestoga, which includes those townships and part of southwest Kitchener, is remarkably different from the other ridings of Waterloo Region.
It has higher income and lower unemployment. Two out of three people are married couples or living common-law, which is higher than the other ridings.
Albrecht is a deeply religious man who campaigns for pro-life causes such as suicide prevention and doctors having more rights to refuse physician-assisted death. He is well-liked in the riding.
But the rural way of thinking is shrinking. Many people who live in villages like Conestogo and St. Agatha are actually suburbanites, who are looking for a smalltown atmosphere and a peaceful, spacious environment, but who commute to the city for work. They aren’t nearly as likely to have fundamentalist Christian values.
Meanwhile, as each new suburban home is built in the southwest corner of Kitchener, this riding becomes less reliably Conservative. Albrecht held onto his job in the last election as Trudeau’s Liberals swept across southern Ontario. But remember, he only did it by 251 votes.