The word “woke” — originally used to describe awareness of discrimination — has been adopted by figures on the political right to discredit policies and politicians they consider too progressive, experts say.
The word was directed earlier this week at the Liberals and NDP by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. And some Liberals have been dancing around the term when asked about it by journalists.
“It’s a term that’s been evolving fast,” said Jennifer Saul, a professor who specializes in the philosophy of political language at the University of Waterloo.
“For a while, there were people happily identifying themselves as woke. It now has been adopted as a term of abuse.”
Some Liberals distance themselves
After Poilievre was elected to lead the Conservatives, a number of Liberal MPs told Radio-Canada that they want their party to shift to the centre to combat Poilievre’s populist brand of conservatism.
“We need a government that is down to earth and less woke,” one MP, speaking on the condition they not be identified, told Radio-Canada.
Poilievre would later call the Liberals and the NDP — who are supporting the government through a confidence-and supply-agreement — a “radical woke coalition” in his first address to caucus as Conservative leader.
Poilievre’s use of “woke” as a pejorative had a number of Liberal cabinet ministers circling the word cautiously during the party’s caucus retreat earlier this week.
“Frankly, I don’t even know what it means to be woke. I’m working to serve Canadians,” said Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.
“I certainly don’t believe I’m woke, trust me, and no one in my family believes that either,” said Innovation and Science Minister François-Philippe Champagne.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre greet each other as they gather in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill to pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth in Ottawa on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick)
Even NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh didn’t explicitly embrace the term when asked about it during an interview on CBC Radio’s The House — although he did say he doubts Poilievre understands what it means.
“I don’t think that Mr. Poilievre knows what he means when he says that. I don’t think he understands what he’s saying when he just throws the words around,” Singh told host Catherine Cullen in the interview airing Saturday.
“I think it’s a baseless kind of position. It doesn’t really add up to the reality,” he said, adding that his party’s focus is on getting help to Canadians.
Where does the word come from?
The use of the term “woke” in a political context originates with black activists in the United States in the early- to mid-20th century, according to McGill political science professor Terri Givens.
Givens said it was used as a term of vigilance, calling for greater public awareness of racial discrimination. As a black woman growing up in the United States, she said, she was very familiar with the term.
“I’ve heard this term throughout my life,” she said. “It’s a term that means, ‘We need to wake up to the fact that [discrimination is] happening to us.'”
Givens said that while the term has been used within black communities in North America for decades, it gained prominence in the wider public discourse during the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.
A new street sign for Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House in Washington. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)
Saul said that in the years following the rise of Black Lives Matter, people started applying the term more broadly to awareness of other social issues, such as sexism, poverty and the challenges facing LGBTQ people.
Both Saul and Givens said the term has since been seized by right-wing figures to castigate people or policies they see as too progressive.
“This has become a blunt instrument of the right,” Givens said.
Saul agrees but notes that “woke” has gained some negative meaning on the left as well. The term “woke-washing,” he said, is used to describe the actions of people or organizations that try to convince others they care about certain issues.
Woke in the current political climate
Both Saul and Givens said Poilievre’s use of the word to discredit the Liberals, and subsequent attempts by some Liberals to distance themselves from it, are not surprising. The same things are happening in the U.S. and Europe, they said.
“I think a defence of, ‘Yes I’m woke and proud of it’ is unlikely to succeed because the term ‘woke’ has become so thoroughly appropriated,” Saul said.
Givens said she doesn’t think the historical context of the term is understood by either the Liberals or the Conservatives.
“It really pains me to see politicians throwing these terms around … [as] a quick soundbite, instead of having a nuanced conversation,” she said.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
