VICTORIA, B.C. -- Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has vowed that if his party is re-elected, legislation outlawing LGBTQ2S+ conversion therapy will be a priority, but didn't say how quickly into a new Parliament a Liberal government would re-table the bill. The Conservatives and NDP have also committed to ban the practice, if elected.

After initially dodging a question during his media availability in Victoria, B.C. on Thursday, CTVNews.ca put the question to him again, in which he鈥攁fter using it as a partisan attack on the Conservatives鈥攕aid he wishes the issue wasn鈥檛 political.

鈥淲e have taken this serious from the very beginning because we kept pushing it, even during a global pandemic, and it is going to be an absolute priority for us, if we get re-elected,鈥� Trudeau said, adding that he focused on the Conservatives because the majority鈥� members voted against passing the bill in the last Parliament.

鈥淚t would be great if we weren't in a political debate around this and everyone just agreed, 鈥榶es we have to protect kids.鈥� Unfortunately there's a party that is not unequivocal about that, and I think that's part of the choice Canadians need to make on how we move forward as a country,鈥� Trudeau said on Thursday.

鈥淚t is not right for anyone to be told that they are broken, or imperfect, or there's something wrong with them, and that is the message in conversion therapy that is so harmful.鈥�

AN ELECTION ISSUE AGAIN?

Bill C-6, the outstanding legislation looking to largely ban conversion therapy was halted in the Senate, after Conservatives refused to fast-track at the end of the sitting. The legislation then died when Trudeau triggered the election.

The legislation was among four priority bills the Liberals passed into the Senate with the support of the Bloc Quebecois and New Democrats at the eleventh hour of the House of Commons sitting in June.

While the government pushed the argument that LGBTQ2S+ folks should not be subjected one day longer to efforts to change a person's sexual orientation to heterosexual or gender identity to cisgender, the bill and its aims have faced roadblocks before, including from the government.

After calling out the Liberals for their handling of the bill in the last Parliament鈥� saying if it had been a priority to pass, the NDP would have backed the Liberals up to get it through much earlier鈥擭DP Leader Jagmeet Singh is also vowing to immediately ban the practice.

鈥淲hen it comes to sexual orientation and gender expression, damaging practices such as so-called 鈥榗onversion therapy鈥� have no place in Canada. Unlike the Liberals, who stalled for six years on this issue, we will immediately legislate a ban on conversion therapy in Canada, and work with provinces and territories to support eliminating this practice in all parts of the country,鈥� reads the NDP platform.

In the last Parliament, O鈥橳oole voted to pass the bill, and has said the federal minority government's legislative mismanagement and decision not to heed Tory amendments was to blame, not obstruction from his caucus.

His election platform includes a commitment to ban the practice, but with amendments to clarify that 鈥渢he ban does not criminalize non-coercive conversations,鈥� a concern pushed by those opposed to the bill. 

On Wednesday, Trudeau made in Cloverdale-Langley City, a Conservative-held riding where the Liberal candidate and one-time MP John Aldag has been seeking to leverage his opponent and sitting MP Tamara Jansen鈥檚 past comments and opposition to the proposed ban, during his campaign.

In an interview out front of the Liberal leader鈥檚 election stop, CTVNews.ca asked Aldag how he鈥檚 responded to constituent鈥檚 questions about the Liberals failing to see the bill through, Aldag said his response is that he鈥檚 planning to push his party to quickly revive the bill, if re-elected.

WHAT THE LEGISLATION WOULD DO

The Liberal鈥檚 legislationas drafted explicitly stated that the definition of conversion therapy within the bill "does not include a practice, treatment or service that relates to the exploration and development of an integrated personal identity without favouring any particular sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression."

Through the Liberal鈥檚 proposed legislation, they looked to make the following things a crime:

  • Causing a minor to undergo conversion therapy;
  • removing a minor from Canada to undergo conversion therapy abroad;
  • causing a person to undergo conversion therapy against their will;
  • profiting from providing conversion therapy; and
  • advertising an offer to provide conversion therapy.

The offenses would not apply to people who are providing support to people questioning their sexual orientation or gender identity, such as teachers or school counsellors, faith leaders, doctors or mental health professionals.

Conversion therapy is opposed by several health and human rights groups including the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization, which in 2012 said that these conversion programs "lack medical justification and represent a serious threat to the health and well-being of affected people."

The Canadian Psychological Association also opposes conversion therapy as it is "based on the assumption that LGBTQ identities indicate a mental disorder," and "can result in negative outcomes, such as distress, anxiety, depression, negative self-image, a feeling of personal failure, difficulty sustaining relationships, and sexual dysfunction."

According to a report published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, in Canada more than 20,000 LGBTQ and two-spirit Canadians have been exposed to conversion therapy treatments or other efforts aimed at repressing or changing their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.