Conservative MP Jamil Jivani makes Dalhousie stop on nationwide tour

By: Ryan Bradbury and Dylan Follett

Jamil Jivani, a Conservative MP from Ontario, hosted an event at Dalhousie University’s Sexton campus on March 3 to discuss how to “restore the promise of Canada.”

The event was part of Jivani’s nationwide Restore the North tour, which is modelled after campus tours held in the United States by Charlie Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA. The Dalhousie Conservative Club co-hosted the event, which drew approximately 50 attendees — around half of whom were student-aged.

“[The event] was great,” says Jivani, who has represented the southern Ontario riding of Bowmanville-Oshawa North since 2024. “I really like that we had people from different political stripes here. It makes for better conversation when we have people with different points of view.” 

The event consisted of short speeches by Jivani and others, and a Q-and-A session.

In the Q-and-A period, Jivani asked that everyone who posed a question also answer the question of “How do we restore the promise of Canada?” Answers included suggestions to stop the “erosion” of Canadian culture, increase natural resource extraction and reduce immigration.

The tour is marketed to young people, especially young men, for whom Jivani said, “The promise of Canada seems increasingly out of reach.”

Ben Sellar, a spokesperson for the Dalhousie Conservative Club, says young people are “very well represented” in the Conservative Party of Canada. 

“[Young people] do have a seat at the table,” he said. “But the political establishment [beyond the Conservative party] brushes us off.”

Sellar said the Dalhousie Conservatives are among the strongest on-campus conservative movements in the country, and the visit from Jivani means the society is “on the map.”

“Regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum, young people have to get more involved in politics,” said Jivani. “In order for the priorities of your generation to be taken seriously, the way they should be, we need your generation to be involved.”

Nathan Ferguson, a Dalhousie graduate who is running for the Conservative nomination in the federal Sackville-Bedford-Preston riding, also spoke at the event. 

“Students everywhere across this country, they’re feeling what’s happening,” said Ferguson. “They’re feeling the burden of financial issues. They’re feeling inflation. They’re feeling the culture of Canada crumble around them compared to what our parents had.”

Sellar says that while he has “mixed feelings” towards Jivani, his visit to Dalhousie shows a commitment to acting on his beliefs. 

“He does want to energize the youth movement in Canada. He wants to give young people a voice.”

Some in the audience were concerned with Jivani’s rhetoric toward young people. 

“I have a son who’s 32. So I understand the young men’s idea [of conservatism], and I’m sorry to say that they’re being fed a bunch of crap,” says Heather Donald-Reagh, who attended the event. 

“Things are not going exactly the way they want,” she says. “They’re being told immigration is the cause, that the Liberal party is the cause, and all these other things that they use to blame other people for their problems.”

Jivani says the event was inspired by the assassination of Kirk at a similar campus event in the United States last year. 

Kirk was a controversial far-right political commentator and a close ally of United States President Donald Trump. 

He had said that “all the time in urban America, prowling Blacks go around for fun to go target white people,” and that “We need to have a Nuremberg-style trial for every gender-affirming clinic doctor.” 

Jivani characterized Kirk as a “student activist” for his frequent campus events across the United States. After he was killed, Jivani says he wanted to uphold Kirk’s “commitment to free speech and free debate.” 

“We got a lot of invitations [after Kirk’s killing] and wanted to come, and it lined up with us also wanting to do a lot of outreach to young people anyway,” says Jivani, “The two things merged into an opportunity for us to honour his legacy but also to have a conversation about the future of our own country.”

This leg of the tour also includes stops at campuses in Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, and Jivani has previously had events in Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec.