Hold your nose when you vote

Is Poilievre the alternative voters want?, Raj, April 25

Columnist Althia Raj poses the question “Is Poilievre the alternative voters want?” There is no doubt the present government is well past its best before date. In a previous era, many voters would routinely switch between the Liberals and the Progressive Conservative parties with only a modicum of angst. That option changed after the 1993 election when the PCs self destructed. Over time, the remnants of the PC party and other parties merged to form the present day Conservative Party of Canada, a party way too far to the right for centrist leaning voters. Unless there is a dramatic change in the next few months, these voters now have the undesirable choice of holding theirs noses while voting, not for the best party, but for the least worst. Clearly, a very sad situation. Tom Driedger, Toronto

We can sharpen the question columnist Althia Raj asks — is Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre the alternative that female voters want? The kinds of men who make “F--k Trudeau” signs have toxic masculinity, a major problem even in our police forces. There are a host of things the Trudeau government has done to guarantee and even expand women’s rights, like the recent move to update the Criminal Code to add strangulation to the definition of assault with a weapon or causing bodily harm. Even if Poilievre’s allowing men sympathetic to white supremacy into the Conservative tent is merely guilt by association, his hyperbolic personal attacks on our prime minister reveal a mean streak that I don’t think Canadians will endorse. Voters who are sick of Trudeau should ask themselves how long it would take to become sick of Poilievre.

Ron Charach, Toronto