Amy Hamm: Bad Liberal policy is the true health hazard to Canadian men

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The Liberal government announced a new Men and Boys’ Health Strategy in February to improve the health of Canadian males. It is a crucial initiative — but it will not be accomplished. That is because the party is unable to engage with the real problem: that Canada’s institutionalized wokeism denigrates masculinity, while the Liberal Lost Decade has left males with little hope of economic success.

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There are already hints that the government will use this initiative to divert attention from their own mess. A public survey, running through June 1, explains that the government is interested in “shaping healthier attitudes about being a man.” One question asks,  ”To what extent could male role models, mentors, and community leaders actively promote healthier attitudes about what it means to be a man in Canada?”

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The government is also asking that “experts” and organizations come forward to submit briefs responding to four questions, including one about “understanding and dealing with traditional ideas about masculinity in healthy ways.” They speak of challenging “harmful stereotypes,” without naming any, except perhaps by hinting, in several of the survey questions, that males are less likely to ask for “help.” Colonialism is also given as one example of a health barrier for Canadian males, with no further explanation. (A related “learn more” link leads to a page with no mention of the word.)

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With no elucidation as to what “unhealthy attitudes” about being male are, let us instead examine a sampling of what our Liberal government and their allies have said about males and masculinity over the past several years.

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Most recently, Canada’s new Governor General, Louise Arbour, appointed by Prime Minister Carney this week, previously accused the Canadian military of “toxic masculinity” and of being comprised of “white boys who like guns.”

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In March, Women and Gender Equality Canada announced funding for numerous projects, including $412,305 for “Redefining Masculinity: Preventing (gender-based violence) by educating youth about toxic masculinity and not being a by-stander.”

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A 2022 blog entry on the government’s website, “Toxic or positive masculinity? How men can shift workplace culture,” argues that the mere presence of males creates workplace danger. “The overwhelming presence of men can create an unsafe environment for women,” it reads. It extrapolates from a single study on “toxic masculinity” in the context of middle-school boys and bullying to argue that men — not children, as were examined in the study — “who view themselves as more masculine are less likely to engage in what researchers call ‘helping behaviour.’”

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Similarly, a 2022 government report on women and the workplace states that there are many “harmful beliefs, attitudes and behaviours (that) have become the natural expression of maleness.” Among its sources was a Deloitte report on gender equality which “noted that masculinity based on status-seeking is an insecure masculinity — there is always a risk that one can lose status.”