Elections Canada is receiving criticism for raising the Pride Progress flag outside its Gatineau, Quebec head office.
Elections Canada announced the flag-raising X (formerly Twitter), which it said was to commemorate “Public Service Pride Week.”
“For the first time, Elections Canada will be flying the #Pride flag at our National Capital Region Headquarters to mark Public Service #PrideWeek!,” said Elections Canada on X.
The raising of the Pride Progress flag was done in celebration of the fifth annual Public Service Pride Week, celebrating the public service’s LGBTQ employees with awards and events being held throughout the week of August 21.
However, the post received significant backlash from Canadians who found the flag-raising “inappropriate,” concerned with a non-partisan organization supporting controversial social causes.
A self-proclaimed “gay conservative” quote tweeted the post, slamming Elections Canada for failing to remain politically neutral and restricting the comments section under their post.
“Elections Canada has not only failed at remaining politically neutral by flying the ‘progress flag’ they have just screwed up even more by disabling comments.”
Elections Canada has not only failed at remaining politically neutral by flying the “progress flag” they have just screwed up even more by disabling comments.
— Fringe Gay Conservative 🇨🇦 (@tdothip) August 22, 2023
Unbelievable. A totally “non-partisan” organization! 🤡🤡 https://t.co/nX3UTX43O2
Another user remarked how the Pride Progress flag is more associated with some political parties than others, and that raising said flag identifies Elections Canada with objectionable beliefs about gender and race.
“This seems totally inappropriate. The ‘progress’ flag symbolizes ideas about race and gender that are highly contested and associated primarily with certain political parties. How are we supposed to trust Elections Canada if it’s taking sides in major political debates?”
This seems totally inappropriate. The “progress” flag symbolizes ideas about race and gender that are highly contested and associated primarily with certain political parties. How are we supposed to trust Elections Canada if it’s taking sides in major political debates? https://t.co/ffa0ii4dkS
— Josh Dehaas (@JoshDehaas) August 22, 2023
Despite Elections Canada limiting replies under their post, several Canadians expressed their disappointment in the raising of the Pride Progress flag.
One user commented, “How many Pride weeks do we need?”
How many Pride weeks do we need?
— Comrade Common Sense™ 🇵🇱🇨🇦 (@komradeperogie) August 22, 2023
Another user replied with a picture of the Canadian flag and proclaimed that the Canadian flag was the only appropriate flag to fly.
One flag…the only flag pic.twitter.com/xcY8a7ZIUV
— MRH_1984 🇨🇦 (@MRH_1984) August 22, 2023
