According to Mark Carney, Marilyn Gladu says her anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ positions are in the past
Gladu, an ex-Conservative MP, announced yesterday that she had crossed the floor to join the Liberal party
When long-time Conservative MP of Sarnia-Lambton-Bkejwanong, Marilyn Gladu, announced yesterday that she had crossed the floor to join the Liberals, many wondered how well she’d align with the party given her voting record, which has leaned socially conservative.
In 2021, Gladu opposed a bill to ban conversion therapy, a practice purported to change sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual, which has long been discredited. (Gladu later clarified that she is against conversion therapy, and said in a statement that she supports the LGTBQ community.)
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In 2020, while running for Conservative leadership, she said she would permit caucus members to bring forward private members bills that would restrict abortion.
In response to a reporter’s question that was specifically about abortion, Prime Minister Mark Carney said today that he had spoken to Gladu about her troubling position.
“I had discussions, and colleagues had discussions, with Ms. Gladu about those issues. She will vote with the government if there are votes relating to any aspect of that issue as well as the rights of Canadians to be their whole selves, to love who they love, and to fully enjoy their rights under the Charters of Rights and Freedoms,” Carney told reporters today.
“She’s an engineer. She’s an experienced parliamentarian. She is someone who works well with other people, including across the aisle,” he continued.
Gladu is the fifth MP to cross the floor in recent months, bringing the Liberals’ total number of seats to 171. With one more, the party would secure a majority.
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Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
