A Manitoba cabinet minister defeated in Tuesday's provincial election says the Progressive Conservative party she has served for years took a hard-right pivot during the election campaign, and now needs to address an identity crisis.

McLaughlin compared the landfill ads to a plan by former federal Conservative leader Stephen Harper in 2015 to set up a telephone hotline for people to report “barbaric cultural practices.” The idea met with widespread public backlash.

Swinging hard right will not win elections in Canada. You might gain a few extremist votes but polls always show that Canadians favour progressive social policy, not christofascists virtue signaling.