Marilyn Gladu wants Canada to be more like the United States

When rhetoric like Gladu’s moves from the margins to the mainstream, we don’t have to wonder what happens. We can look at the United States. For nearly a decade, Marilyn […]

When rhetoric like Gladu’s moves from the margins to the mainstream, we don’t have to wonder what happens. We can look at the United States.

For nearly a decade, Marilyn Gladu has represented Sarnia–Lambton in Parliament. But watch how she speaks, what she amplifies, and who she aligns with, and it’s hard not to see her project as a Canadian knockoff of Trump’s political style. Less about governance, more about grievance. Less about service, more about signalling.

She praised Trump as a defender of “free speech,” echoed pandemic conspiracies, and called on the Prime Minister to meet with convoy organizers who were openly trying to destabilize the federal government. She formed something called the “Civil Liberties Caucus,” opposed conversion therapy bans, reproductive rights, and LGBTQ+ protections — all while presenting herself as a practical, small-town conservative.

But Gladu’s politics aren’t about policy. They’re about identity. And the version she promotes is deeply shaped by a particular strand of evangelical belief — one that treats religious values as national ones, that views disagreement as persecution, and that builds loyalty by pointing to enemies. The enemy might be science. Or Ottawa. Or immigrants. Or your neighbour. It doesn’t really matter, as long as you know who you’re supposed to be against.

I’ve lived in Sarnia long enough to recognize this pattern. Gladu didn’t invent it. She’s a product of it. The churches, donors, and social circles around her are filled with people who genuinely believe Canada should be remade in the image of their God — a God who conveniently shares all their opinions about sex, gender, education, and punishment.

It’s not always loud. It doesn’t need to be. The point isn’t to win an argument. It’s to wear you down. To make you think this version of Canada is inevitable. That it’s just how things are going now.

But it isn’t inevitable. It’s a choice.

Gladu isn’t just asking for your vote — she’s asking you to co-sign a worldview that’s already tearing other democracies apart. I’ve been writing about this for nearly a decade now. About how dangerous Gladu’s words and votes have been. And it still breaks my heart to see her speak for a community I know is better than this.