Stay away from Arizona. That’s what Canada essentially is telling its people

Canada has issued an international travelers advisory warning members of its LGBTQ+ community to exercise caution traveling to certain parts of the United States.

Go to such places and you could face discrimination, the government cautioned.

Certain U.S. states pose a threat to Canada’s LGBTQ+ community, warned Global Affairs Canada on Tuesday in an update of its international travel advisories, The Toronto Sun reports.

However, Canada did not specify those U.S. states, only that “some states have enacted laws and policies” that may affect them. The government urged its citizens to check local laws before traveling to the United States.

Arizona would seem to qualify.

Is Arizona horrible for LGBTQ visitors?

In March of last year, then-Gov. Doug Ducey signed into law bills that restrict sports participation for transgender athletes and surgery for transgender children.

If now those laws should make Canadians wary of traveling to Arizona, that could have implications for this state.

About a million Canadians travel to Arizona every year, adding about $1.4 billion annually to our economy, according to the Maricopa Association of Governments.

Canada’s travel advisory follows a warning in May by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that threats against the LGBTQ community are rising.

Are the administrations of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Joe Biden coordinating their messaging?

The Canadian press asked Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland that question on Tuesday.

“She would not say if the Liberals (Trudeau’s political party) had discussed the matter with U.S. President Biden, but said the relationship with the U.S. is one of the most important for the government,” the Toronto Sun reported.

You can take that as a yes.

Trudeau is grasping for a political lifeline

The liberal administration in Ottawa is unlikely to start a fight with the liberal administration in Washington — with all its potential trade implications — without consulting with the White House.

For its part, the Biden administration seems very much at peace with Canada’s new travel advisory.

U.S. Ambassador David Cohen did not directly address the new travel warning but said his country “stands for equality and equal treatment for all,” The Sun reported.

“The United States is committed to promoting tolerance, inclusion, justice and dignity while helping to advance equality for the LGBTQI+ community.”

So yes, this is politics. And classic Justin Trudeau politics.

This is about Justin Trudeau hearing footsteps. Canada is reeling. The Canadian economy has been clobbered by inflation, and food, home and energy prices are spiraling.

Trudeau’s poll numbers are tanking.

And a young, dynamic leader has emerged to challenge Trudeau for prime minister. Pierre Poilievre, 44, now leads the Conservative Party in Canada and has brilliantly harnessed the internet to appeal to Canadians and particularly young Canadians.

A new poll shows that 56% of Canadians believe Trudeau should resign, compared to only 27% who think he should run again.

Prime minister's attacks won't work

If you follow Canadian politics, you know that conservatives have long accused Trudeau of hurling accusations of racism, homophobia and sexism at his political opponents whenever he’s in trouble.

He has done this repeatedly to Poilievre, but it doesn’t stick.

Poilievre is the picture of modern multiculturalism. His wife, Anaida, is a Venezuelan refugee to Canada, and they have two children. Virtually every week, Poilievre is luxuriating in Canada’s multiculturalism, visiting and celebrating various ethnic communities.

American conservatives could learn a lot from Poilievre.

In Arizona: Score one for the trans girl who wants to play soccer

His social media feeds are a master’s class in modern politics. He is using new technology to do old-fashioned kitchen-table conversations with Canadians and even Justin Trudeau, educating them on the bread-and-butter issues that most effect the people.

Trudeau also hurled similar insults at the so-called “freedom convoy” of truckers protesting his draconian vaccine policies during the pandemic.

Such accusations were rich coming from Trudeau, who was photographed so often in his younger days in blackface that you could fill a photo album with the images.

His opponent is not Trump

Something is up with the Trudeau government.

Two weeks ago, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said the Liberal government is devising a “game plan” should the United States take a hard-right turn to authoritarianism, Canada’s National Post reports.

Member of Parliament Heather McPherson, a political liberal, brought this into greater focus:

“Donald Trump is a scourge on democracy across the world. Frankly, Canada better have a plan for a decline in American democracy.”

While this sounds like foreign policy, it’s really domestic politics.

Melanie Joly told La Presse columnist Patrick Lagacé on Montreal’s radio station 98.5 of the government’s “game plan”:

“The other aspect of the question is more about knowing how we as a democracy are able to thwart the growth of the far-right in our country, because it’s happening in the United States, it’s happening in Europe. So one can’t be naive here, Patrick; it’s happening right now with us, there is, we know that there is certainly a radicalization of the Conservative Party.”

“And there it is,” responded National Post columnist Terry Glavin. “This is how Team Trudeau hopes to survive the calamity of its descent in the public opinion polls owing to galloping inflation, a doubling of house prices and rent costs since the Liberals came to power in 2015, several nasty ethics scandals.”

Maybe we need an advisory for Trudeau

Trudeau will try to turn his conservative challenger into Donald Trump.

That’s not going to work, because Pierre Poilievre is nothing like Donald Trump. And Canadians aren’t that stupid.

It's not going to work because Canadians are beginning to support some of the red-state laws gaining traction in the United States. Last week, Saskatchewan joined New Brunswick in requiring parental consent for students who want to change their preferred name or pronouns.

New polling by the Angus Reid Institute shows Canadians — who are typically more liberal than Americans — support either parental notification or consent over no notification at 78% to 14%.

At this rate, Trudeau might want to build a wall and moat around his capital city Ottawa and issue travel advisories for the rest of North America.

Phil Boas is an editorial columnist with The Arizona Republic. Email him at phil.boas@arizonarepublic.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Does Canada really believe LGBTQ visitors should avoid Arizona?