Jamil Jivani: Young men have a stake in Canada's future. They should be heard

In Canada, young men are in a state of crisis. The federal government’s own data on unemployment, drug overdoses, educational attainment, homelessness, mental health and crime overwhelmingly support this claim. That is, to anyone seriously and honestly willing to look at the facts.

As a member of Parliament, I am doing everything in my power to help address this crisis. This includes, but is not limited to, visiting university and college campuses to hear directly from young men, sounding the alarm bells in my speeches in the House of Commons, launching petitions and working in tandem with community organizations. Indeed, I have even written an open letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney urging him to take action on this matter — especially in light of his 2025 federal budget’s failure to include a targeted and specific plan to support and empower young men in our country (the kind of approach exemplified by reports from the Senate of Canada, National Bank of Canada, Movember Canada and the Canadian Men’s Health Foundation, among others.)

Why? Because the situation is urgent, and it should be bigger than partisanship.

And yet, despite my efforts, I instead became the subject of numerous personal attacks and criticisms. This is especially true from the most fanatical of Liberal partisans who deride me as “Maple MAGA” — all the while continuing to downplay or ignore legitimate concerns shared by their fellow citizens. To many, it is an inconvenient fact that the same Liberal party has been in power for over a decade and has left many of our citizens behind.

If the current political establishment continues to ignore this crisis of its own making, it will push disaffected young men away from mainstream politics and into the arms of extremist bad-faith actors who have no desire to participate in our democratic system.

This would not be the first time. Rather, it is a recurring phenomenon that I have personally experienced and studied, and it formed the basis for my first book, Why Young Men. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to make it out of a state of despair and hopelessness. And this is why this crisis is personal for me. But for the grace of God, wonderful mentors, the support of my family and a chance at an education, I could have fallen through the cracks just as easily as anybody else.

With the support of Canadians across the nation, I am pushing to build bridges for disaffected young men to constructively channel their legitimate concerns into mainstream politics. At our Restore the North campus events, we welcome students and community members from and actively listen to their concerns and ideas. It is my hope that through authentic grassroots engagement, we can show these young men that there is a place for them in our democracy. Their voices matter.

As I often mention during these campus tours, decline is a choice. Our nation’s decline is no different: it is the result of deliberate policy choices made by one single party over the last decade. The more these young men share their concerns and ideas, the better the policy choices available. More importantly, the greater their democratic participation, the greater the stake these citizens feel they have in the country’s future. The answer to apparent demoralization is to let these young men know they can take responsibility in shaping where our nation goes next.

However, if we fail to build these bridges for young men, I fear we will see the same divisions currently plaguing the conservative movement in the United States. We will have to contend with the likes of Nick Fuentes, who offer racial resentment to fill the void between these men and mainstream politics.

For those who are unaware, Fuentes is essentially Louis Farrakhan in whiteface. In recent years, Fuentes has gained notoriety and influence by speaking to the concerns of disaffected white men. His strategy is similar to Farrakhan’s, who targeted disaffected black men in the 1980s and 1990s. , Fuentes puts a particular emphasis on directing animosity toward Jews. The conservative movement in the United States is still dealing with the effects of Farrakhan’s efforts to push black men away from participation in mainstream politics. Indeed, they lost a generation of potential conservative young black men in the process. It’s important to ensure Fuentes doesn’t have the same impact today.

Racial resentment is a go-to crutch for extremists because it allows for simplistic explanations for nuanced issues. It enables extremists to cultivate a distinct audience online and offline by utilizing language and ideas that are outside of mainstream politics. This, in turn, gives disaffected young men the false impression that these extremists care about their concerns. In reality, extremists just exploit young men to feed an agenda that builds nothing and only destroys.

Racial resentment, in other words, is not a real solution to real problems. This is one of the many reasons why I am a stalwart defender of meritocracy and equality over and against Liberal DEI policies. Our nation should have no tolerance for racial resentment in any direction, and we must have the conviction to say that no Canadian should be judged by their government on the basis of ancestry or skin colour. It is impossible for Canada’s current political establishment to stop the rise of individuals like Fuentes if it continues to prop up a different form of racial division and dresses it up as “progressive” DEI.

Liberal fanatics have spent so much time reacting to American politics that they make the crucial error of conflating the Canadian conservative movement with its American counterparts. But Canadian conservatives are concerned with our own nation, and we have our distinct vision for a strong and united Canada.

We are doing the hard work right now of combating the racial resentment offered by the likes of Fuentes by encouraging and empowering the very young men who are being left behind by the Liberal Party of Canada. That is something we should all be able to support.

National Post

Jamil Jivani is the member of Parliament for Bowmanville-Oshawa North.