TORONTO—Donald Trump Jr., the son of former U.S. President Donald J. Trump, spoke out against what he called the “radical transgender agenda” during a speech in Toronto on May 10.
“Parents aren’t allowed to have a say” about their children, he told the conference audience. A “rainbow-haired teacher convinced them that they should have a permanent sex change operation, they should be on hormones for the rest of their life. And, you know, if it doesn’t work out, everyone’s immune. The doctors are immune.”
“Per capita, by far the most violent group of individuals right now is the radical trans agenda,” Mr. Trump said.
The conference was organized by social media video website Rumble and Canadian media outlet Rebel News. Among the presenters and panelists were journalist Glenn Greenwald, media personality and lawyer David “Viva Frei” Freiheit, and Rebel founder Ezra Levant, who spoke about freedom of speech issues.
Mr. Trump addressed several Canadian topics, including the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), quoting an article that stated Canada was unable to field troops to help with security in Haiti.
“You guys fought in Afghanistan, and now you don’t have the capabilities? We get it, like everyone’s got to be transgender or something like that. So that takes a lot of time and energy, probably doesn’t end up allowing you to recruit the best,” he said.
“‘The recruiting numbers are down and we can’t figure it out.’ I’m like, ‘You can’t figure it out? I’ve got a couple of ideas: Stop doing drag queen story hour on a military base,’” he added.
The minister said his department is taking “meaningful steps” to recruit more talent to the military.
Treatment of Protesters
During his speech, Mr. Trump also mentioned the Freedom Convoy protesters from 2022, comparing the way they were treated by the government to the ongoing pro-Palestinian protests.“I noticed that the truckers were not afforded the same luxury of having the government pay for their bathrooms. I know that they were arrested. I know that they were debanked. I know they were threatened with their livelihoods and their jobs,” he said.
Online Harms Bill
The legislation is intended to add more protection for children online, says the government, and adds large penalties for online platforms that fail to make certain content inaccessible.These include imposing restrictions on an individual if a judge has “reasonable grounds” to believe the person may commit a future hate crime. The person could be sent to jail for not abiding by the restrictions.
The bill also amends the Canadian Human Rights Act to specify that posting “hate speech” online is discrimination, and allows people to file complaints against the poster with the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
Pointing to that provision in the bill, Mr. Levant said someone making a complaint could be awarded as much as $20,000, while the government could collect a further $50,000.
“So this is turning hecklers into prosecutors. And I think it’s a disaster,” Mr. Levant said, adding that he foresees his outlet becoming a primary target under the legislation.
The federal government has said the legislation is needed to make the internet safe.