GALBRAITH: Poilievre right to draw attention to family planning issues

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Earlier this week, Pierre Poilievre said the quiet part out loud: Families are postponing having kids until they can afford to buy a home, and it’s a problem his government intends to solve. He spoke to the plight of the “36-year-old couple whose biological clock is running out faster than they can afford to buy a home and have kids.”

Cue the progressive outrage machine! It cranked out memes of The Handmaid’s Tale, while older male politicians like Yasir Naqvi and Mark Miller insisted that the conversation I, along with so many of my female friends, long to have is somehow sexist.

The idea that discussing why starting a family is an insurmountable challenge is misogynistic is patently ridiculous. What critics of Poilievre are truly saying is that only they are allowed to have this conversation. But conservatives are right to step into that space. The narrative around family planning, career ambitions, and the realities of motherhood can’t just be personal anymore — it needs to be political.

Women are struggling to balance making a life, building a career, and having kids. Many find themselves postponing starting families until they have stable jobs and homes, only to confront the harsh realities of infertility and the exorbitant costs of treatments like IVF. What often begins as a hopeful journey can quickly turn into heartbreak, as they experience miscarriages or struggle to conceive.

I am one of those women. I wanted a family later in life and focused on my career before settling down. Yet, as I approached my mid-30s, my biological clock began ticking loudly and painfully. The irony isn’t lost on me — waiting for the “right time” or when you can “afford it” can corner us into a situation where, instead of enjoying family life, we drown in medical bills and tears, navigating a system that feels rigged against us.

The family crisis in this country isn’t merely an individual problem — it’s a public policy issue our government should care about and solve. We should be addressing how to support all families, especially those grappling with infertility. This means enhancing access to fertility treatments, ensuring workplace accommodations for parents, and providing genuine affordable childcare options — not the poorly executed $10-a-day program that has driven up costs and waitlists for daycares across the country. The longer we ignore these issues, the more we risk losing an entire generation of families who feel relegated to uncertainty.

To those “feminists” who claim calling out these issues is sexist or offensive, I say: You are part of the problem. Just because it makes you uncomfortable to hear about my biological clock doesn’t make it any less real. Dismissing these conversations undermines the real struggles of millennial and younger women.

We need to elevate this topic as part of our national dialogue — that is precisely what Pierre Poilievre is doing, and it’s why he’s resonating with younger voters. He’s willing to say the quiet part out loud, even if it offends the sensibilities of the left.

It’s time for an open conversation about fertility, family, and the pressures women and families face. If we want to empower future generations, we must ensure they have the tools — and support — to build the families they dream of. This is the conversation Pierre Poilievre is championing, and if it makes you uncomfortable, too bad.

— Amanda Galbraith is a partner and co-founder of Oyster Group