Prime Minister Justin Trudeau referenced Conservative criticism during the Liberal Party conference in Ottawa last week.
“They either say investing in Canadians is a waste of money or that our policies are too woke,” he remarked. “Too woke?”
“Hey, Pierre Poilievre,” he said to the TV camera on a riser in the room. Wake awake.
As Trudeau outlined his “good and sensible” plans, the convention audience applauded.
This may have thrilled Liberals. Trudeau may like this fight.
But fighting the derogatory usage of “woke” at this stage may be like boxing a shadow. Waked is now a method to communicate anything without speaking anything.
Pollara found that 57% of Canadians know what “woke” implies. However, less than 27% of Canadians think they could explain the phrase to someone else (Pollara purposefully did not provide a description to survey respondents). That group probably has different meanings too.
(Pollara’s chief strategic officer, Dan Arnold, was Trudeau’s research director from 2015 to 2021.)
Black Americans used the word decades ago to signify socially and politically aware of injustices. Over the past 20 years, Black Lives Matter marches in the US have helped mainstream it.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines awake as “aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).”
In recent years, the phrase was used to criticize persons who were too passionate about equality or other social concerns in America’s culture wars.
Backlash spread north. In 2020, former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole used the word in a video chat with young Conservatives to consider renaming Ryerson University due to its ties with residential schools.
Since succeeding O’Toole as leader, Poilievre has eagerly embraced and expanded the phrase.
Many ‘woke’ items
In a June email to supporters, Poilievre said the Liberal government’s “obsession with woke culture” had made university campuses unfriendly to opposing views.
Poilievre and his party have used “woke” in reference to Bill C-11, which Conservatives allege would “censor” Canadians by applying Canadian content rules to key Internet companies. Conservative messaging have extensively referenced Trudeau’s “radical woke agenda.”
Poilievre has used the phrase to criticize the CRTC, mayors whose housing policies he opposes, and a culture that purportedly discourages military service in the House of Commons. On Thursday, Poilievre claimed Trudeau’s “woke” “ideology” explains passport changes.
At the Liberal convention, Trudeau listed a gender-balanced cabinet, poverty reduction, and accessible child care as initiatives Poilievre would find too woke.
$10-a-day child care is not woke policy. “Economics,” he said.
Poilievre’s following morning Twitter video didn’t address any of those items. After praising Trudeau’s “woke ways,” the Conservative leader listed his concerns: the Liberal government’s latest gun control measures and the decriminalization of simple drug possession in British Columbia, pricing carbon emissions, the prime minister going on vacation, an increase in public service spending, and the recent public service strike.
Poilievre may have thought these incidents proved Trudeau’s hypocrisy. When Lead Belly encouraged Black Americans to “stay woke” in 1938, he probably didn’t mean any of it.
Poilievre sees awake as a catch-all phrase for conservative politicians and commentators’ current opposition, just like “socialism” was used against progressive plans.
How Canadians view woke
Poilievre may still reach an audience even if his definition is unclear and most people don’t know what “woke” means.
According to Pollara, 31% of Canadians who have heard the phrase say woke is “usually” a “bad thing,” while 16% think it’s typically a “good thing.”
Conservative people are considerably more divided—57% believe woke is bad, while 5% say it’s good. Seven percent of Bloc Quebecois voters approve and 50 percent disapprove.
Liberal and NDP voters are more likely to see “woke” as a positive—31% of Liberals and 36% of NDPers do. Even those parties must deal with those who think being awake is “bad”—14% of Liberals and 13% of New Democrats.
Last week, Trudeau defended himself against Poilievre’s charges since just 25% of Canadians and 14% of Quebecers are awake.
Many Canadians dislike awake but like other social justice phrases. Pollara rated “Black Lives Matter” plus-35 and pride flags plus-34. Feminism, #MeToo, allyship, and affirmative action were plus-30, 28, 26, and 21.
Even while they support awakened issues, Canadians tend to think being woke is different.
Poilievre defines awake.
During C-11 discussion in late March, Liberal MP Jenica Atwin challenged Poilievre to define “woke.”
“Woke serves one purpose. “It has many pretexts but one purpose: control,” Poilievre said. “It divides people by color, gender, nationality, religion, immunization status, and any other way one may classify them. Why? It justifies a government to regulate all those organizations.”
Poilievre’s racial and gender comments may evoke woke’s official definition and response. Poilievre’s definition didn’t include any federal initiatives besides vaccination requirements.