ADAMS: Imagine if Bruce Fanjoy Did This. You Already Know How the Right-Wing Establishment Media Would React.

If you blinked, you missed it.

On Friday, Barbara Bal—the 2025 CPC candidate for Nepean—decided to celebrate Family Day in the most Conservative way possible: by attacking the family of a political opponent, pretending it was wholesome, and then playing the victim when people noticed.

Her tweet is gone now. But we saw it.

“This long weekend includes Family Day, a time to cherish what truly matters: our loved ones. Nepean is home to over 30,000 families who will be (hopefully) creating beautiful memories. On that note, does anyone have a classic picture of PM Carney’s family? You know, the traditional kind most MPs share at Christmas, with his wife and their four children, all smiles. Bonus if it was taken in Canada!”

Read that again.

“A classic picture.”

“The traditional kind.”

“With his wife and their four children.”

“Bonus if it was taken in Canada.”

This isn't a request. This is an insinuation. It's the political equivalent of a stage whisper. It's a wink to everyone who already “knows” what she's implying, and it has nothing to do with photography.

And when people called her out? She doubled down. Mocked them. Made it worse.

The Dog Whistle Was a Fog Horn

Let's be honest with each other.

Barbara Bal didn't accidentally tweet this. She didn't stumble into controversy while looking for vintage family photos on Google Images. She sat down, typed it out, and hit send.

Why? Because she wanted to raise a question without technically asking it. She wanted to plant a seed. She wanted to say, “Why doesn't Mark Carney have the kind of family photo real Canadian politicians share?”

She wanted to make his private life—and the private lives of his wife and children—a topic of public speculation. while pretending to care about families.

This is not politics. This is not tough campaigning. This is not “giving as good as you get.”

This is hitting below the belt. And she knows it.

Erin O’Toole Saw It. Why Won’t the Party?

Credit where it's due: Erin O'Toole, a man the Conservative Party has spent the last few years trying to forget, called this out immediately.

“This person should never run for our party again. Full stop.”

Erin is right. And, sadly, a former leader—one currently sitting in the backbenches of relevance—is the only senior Conservative voice willing to say what should be obvious.

Where's the statement from the Conservative Party? Where's the condemnation? Where's the understanding that this isn’t about being “woke” or “PC,” but about basic human decency?

If Bruce Fanjoy had tweeted something even remotely similar about Pierre Poilievre's family, the right-wing establishment media would be turning it into a weeks-long scandal There would be calls for expulsion. The Prime Minister would be asked about it daily. The CBC would run analysis pieces on “Conservative family values” and how the opposition leader’s home life is “relatable” to Canadians.

But because it's a not Bruce Fanjoy and it's Barbara Bal? She's allowed to act like this.

The standard changes depending on who’s holding the gun.

“She Deleted It” Is Not Accountability

Bal deleted the tweet. That's not an apology. That's not reflection. That's reputation management.

And her second tweet made it clear she doesn't regret what she said—she regrets that people noticed.

Here's the uncomfortable truth for conservatives who want to pretend this isn't a problem: you are officially forfeiting the right to demand decency from the other side while tolerating indecency on your own.

You spent years criticizing the Trudeau Liberals for making everything personal; for attacking Maxime Bernier's supporters, mocking Conservative voters as deplorables, and treating political opponents as moral inferiors unworthy of respect.

And now, you're doing the exact same thing.

Diana Fox Carney did not run for office. Her children did not run for office. Mark Carney's family structure, his personal history, his private choices? None of it is your business, nor is it relevant to whether he's a good Prime Minister.

And the fact that Barbara Bal thought it was acceptable to publish tells you everything about the intellectual rot setting into the mainstream of the Conservative movement.

This Is Not “Fighting Back”

There's a tendency, especially online, to treat every piece of political savagery as justified retaliation. “They do it to us, so we should do it to them,” “stop taking the high road, it doesn’t work!” “Play to win, not to be liked.”

But here's the thing: two wrongs don't make a majority.

If you abandon the principle that some things are off-limits, you don't beat the political left at its own game, you just become what you believe them to be: a political movement that sees opponents not as fellow citizens with differing views, but as enemies to be destroyed by any means necessary.

What Should Happen Now?

Barbara Bal should apologize. Not a “sorry you were offended” non-apology. A real one. One that acknowledges she crossed a line and that the people she tried to drag into the mud deserve to be left alone.

And if she won't? The Conservative Party must make it clear this behaviour is unacceptable.

Not because the Liberals will use it against them. Not because the media is watching. But because it’s the right thing to do.

Conservatives claim to be the party of family. They claim to believe that the private sphere should be protected from the intrusions of the state and the mob. They claim to stand for the dignity of the individual against the demands of the collective.

Those are either principles you actually believe, or they're campaign slogans you abandon the moment they become inconvenient.

I know which one Barbara Bal chose.

I’m waiting to see which one the Conservative Party chooses.

This piece was written by an individual contributor and reflects the editorial position of The Provincial Times and Left Lane Media Group. Read our Content Policy here.