Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivers remarks at the annual Equal Voice gala in Ottawa, on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says women's rights and women's progress is under attack, pointing to the recent defeat of U.S. presidential candidate Kamala Harris as an example.

Speaking on Tuesday night at an event hosted by the Equal Voice Foundation — an organization dedicated to improving gender representation in Canadian politics — Trudeau said there are regressive forces fighting against women's progress.

"It shouldn't be that way. It wasn't supposed to be that way. We were supposed to be on a steady, if difficult sometimes, march towards progress," Trudeau said, adding he is a proud feminist and will always be an ally.

"And yet, just a few weeks ago, the United States voted for a second time to not elect its first woman president. Everywhere, women's rights and women's progress is under attack. Overtly, and subtly."

Trudeau's comments come a day before he's set to meet provincial and territorial premiers to discuss Canada's approach to negotiations with the U.S., as Canada faces a threat of a 25 per cent tariff hike from incoming president Donald Trump.

The remarks also come hours after Trump taunted Trudeau on social media, referring to the prime minister as the "Governor ... of the Great State of Canada."

The post was in reference to a joke Trump cracked at his dinner with Trudeau at his Mar-a-Lago property nearly two weeks ago, where the president-elect teased that Canada could join the U.S. as its 51st state.

Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman also spoke at Tuesday's event.

She said while the room was united in the goal of seeing more women in elected seats, the country was divided.

"Most of all, I think we're divided because we've placed diversity of thought on the backburner, in exchange for lofty platitudes of those who believe that all women who hold elected office have to have the same view on every single issue," Lantsman said.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said change needs to happen to stop the recurring of "older white men fail(ing) upwards."

"If you don't change things, you're going to have the same system. And the same system is going to benefit those already in power," Singh said.

"That's with policies. It's by putting in place real, clear strategies."

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May wrapped the MP speeches commending Trudeau for being the first Canadian prime minister to appoint a gender-balanced cabinet, and called on female MPs to work together across party lines.

"It's important that we lift each other up, not tear each other down, and stand together arm in arm in solidarity," May said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 10, 2024.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2024