Mobilizing Victimhood: Situating the Victim in Canadian Conservatism

Abstract

This article offers an examination of the discursive significance of the “victim” in the Conservative Party of Canada through a critical discourse analysis of two key pieces of legislation (Bill C-10 and Bill C-36) tabled by the Harper Conservative government. The central argument contends that while all populist arguments may be a form of victim argument, not all conservative victim arguments are populist—particularly ones directed at issues related to women and gender equality. The article finds that, perhaps due to the reactive nature of conservative ideology, conservative politicians in Canada adopt an “ambidextrous” approach to victims—mobilizing two distinct and, at times, contrasting sets of arguments. The article concludes by proposing two possible explanations for this ambidexterity, one stemming from the literature on organizational management and the other from theorizations of the reactive nature of conservative ideology.

Partisanship, Independence, and the Constitutive Representation of Women in the Canadian Senate

“…Evidently, discussions about women are not exclusive to progressive politicians. Research on women's substantive representation has endeavored to define "women's interests" beyond just feminist emancipatory interests to include the interests of women who are not feminist, and those whose interests are more traditionalist (Celis and Childs 2012;Celis and Erzeel 2013;Gordon 2021;Rayment 2024). The results of this study demonstrate that conservative senators talk about women as much as progressive senators do.…”

Decolonizing Research on the Carceral in Canadian Political Science

“…Research on carceral institutions in Canada by settler political scientists is still emerging and does not centre on relationality and abolition. The themes of this literature focus on the judiciary (Riddell and Baker, 2018; Small and Puddister, 2020); 10 political ideology (Kelly and Puddister, 2017; Gordon, 2021); 11 criminalization (Hindmarch et al, 2018; Hindmarch and Orsini, 2021; Kilty and Orsini, 2019a, 2019b; Kilty et al, 2017; Johnson and Porth, 2023); 12 and colonial violence, genocide and residential schools (MacDonald, 2020; MacDonald and Hudson, 2012; Murray, 2017). 13 One political scientist offers work using the specific focus and language of the Canadian carceral state: Robert Nichols.…”

“…11Kelly and Puddister (2017) write about Canadian penal populism, and Gordon (2021) researches the politics of victimhood in Canadian conservative ideology.…”

“…10 Riddell and Baker (2018) examine the implementation of judicial decisions by police, and Small and Puddister (2020) explore the use of social media in criminal trials. 11Kelly and Puddister (2017) write about Canadian penal populism, andGordon (2021) researches the politics of victimhood in Canadian conservative ideology. 12 Hindmarch, Orsini, Kilty, and Balogh(Hindmarch et al, 2018;Hindmarch and Orsini, 2021; Orsini, 2019a, 2019b;Kilty et al, 2017) research the criminalization of HIV non-disclosure, andJohnson and Porth (2023) write about the criminalization of sex workers through federal law and municipal policy communities.…”