Tory leader Pierre Poilievre wants Canadians to defend their heritage amid federal efforts to cancel national heroes. Be “unapologetic for our history,” he said.

On Thursday, Poilievre aptly defended Sir John A. Macdonald as a national hero despite the residential school controversy. Saturday marked the 210th anniversary of Macdonald’s birth, reported Blacklock’s.

“We need to honour our past and our shared values,” he said. “We need to live out the dream that started with John A. Macdonald. … who believed in an independent and sovereign Canada.”

Poilievre explains what it means "to be a proud Canadian" and "what it means to put Canada first."

"Rebuilding our economy. Bringing home production. Rebuilding our military. Supporting a strong border. Reinstating controls on immigration, and, most of all, being proud of our… pic.twitter.com/VoXMPDYpy8

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) January 9, 2025

An Access to Information request by True North revealed Parks Canada wanted to “decolonize” the Bellevue House exhibit. As part of those efforts, they reopened the historic site on May 18 with “racism and sexism” tours.

The federal government has gone to great lengths to negatively portray Macdonald and his historic home as “white settler” history, despite evidence of the contrary.

The Unpacking Macdonald tour examines “social class structures, racism and sexism in Victorian Canada while looking closer at some of Sir John A. Macdonald’s political decisions.” It refers to Bellevue House as “a place of contemplation on Canada’s colonial beginnings.”

The tours project colonial guilt on tourists despite a growing public distaste for historical revisionism.

Library and Archives Canada in 2021 also deleted a celebratory post of Macdonald on its website, claiming it did not “reflect our diverse and multicultural country.”

Poilievre believes that landing on Canadian soil is the “greatest gift” newcomers can receive. “They should be proud to be part of the Canadian family.”

The Bank of Canada in 2018 also replaced Macdonald on its $10 banknote with a portrait of Viola Desmond, a Nova Scotia civil rights pioneer. 

Historica Canada later deleted a Heritage Minute featuring Macdonald, citing the residential school controversy.

“Stop tearing down our symbols,” Poilievre said. The Official Opposition leader made his remarks while discussing tax and tariff policy, claiming he would “put Canada first.”

Just when you thought the Sir John A. Macdonald statue fiasco at Toronto’s Queen’s Park could not get any worse — it gets worse!

The government has been 'thinking' about what to do with the statue of the first prime minister for four years now.

REPORT: https://t.co/uczdrRLVTx pic.twitter.com/eWN8bc4Oua

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) May 14, 2024

Prime Minister Trudeau concurred Macdonald did “some very positive things in creating today’s Canada,” in prior remarks after the destruction of a Montréal statute honouring Macdonald.

Though the MP said our history needs to be viewed more critically, he drew the line at vandalism. 

“It’s not up to a small group to decide unilaterally we cannot recognize or celebrate one person or another,” Trudeau told reporters. “We need informed debate.” 

“I don’t think divisive debate or acts of vandalism like destroying a statue are going to move us ahead as a society. We’re seeing people trying to trigger culture wars and divide Canadians on these issues.”

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