Tar baby: Unsticking Anti-Poilievre Propaganda (and sticking it to the Liberals)

 

Tar baby: Unsticking Anti-Poilievre Propaganda (and sticking it to the Liberals)           

By Hendrik van der Breggen

 

With Canada’s election looming in the near future (April 28, 2025), political discussion sometimes devolves into mud-slinging. Or tar-slinging.

Sadly, a meme/bullet-point-list titled “Pierre’s Record,” sponsored by the Liberal Party of Canada, led by present Prime Minister Mark Carney, is such a case.

It tells us that Conservative contender Pierre Poilievre “[u]sed the term ‘tar baby’ in the House of Commons.” The not-so-subtle suggestion is that Mr. Poilievre is a racist—so he shouldn’t become Canada’s prime minister.

Whether we support Poilievre or Carney or whomever (or nobody), fair-minded Canadians should realize this Liberal talking-point reeks of political propaganda—and even backfires.

Yes, Poilievre said “tar baby,” but…

So let’s pause and carefully consider the claim that “[Poilievre] used the term ‘tar baby’ in the House of Commons.”

Yes, it’s true. Poilievre in fact used the term “tar baby” in the House of Commons.

But before the reader gasps, the reader should also notice it’s also true that by not providing context the claim makes it look like Poilievre was setting out a racial slur when in fact he wasn’t.

Poilievre was using the term “tar baby” appropriately. In fact, most appropriately.

Proper English meaning of “tar baby”

In proper English usage, “tar baby” means a difficult problem that is only exacerbated by attempts to solve it. It’s a problem that is sticky, like tar. The more you handle it, the worse your situation gets.

The term’s etymology goes back to a much-loved children’s story of the 1800s and has to do with a fictional doll made with tar and turpentine. In this story a fox attempts to catch a rabbit by using bait—a sticky, gooey, gluey tar baby. Brer (brother) Fox attempts to catch Brer Rabbit by tricking the rabbit into touching and getting stuck to the tar.

This children’s story is a classic folktale, especially in African American culture. (Spoiler alert: Brer Rabbit is the hero who, though he gets stuck, outwits the wily Brer Fox and his tar-baby trap.) The story is still popular today, at least in schools and families that value education.

All this to say that in the story, as well as in proper English, the meaning of “tar baby” is not a racial slur. Not at all.

Context is crucial

Back to Poilievre. When Poilievre used the term “tar baby” in 2009 (sixteen years ago, but dredged up by Liberals in 2025 as the federal election approaches!), the context shows he wasn’t using it or intending it as a racial slur.

Consider this report from CBC News dated May 29, 2009: 

Tory MP Pierre Poilievre came under fire in the House of Commons on Friday for using the term ‘tar baby.’

The controversy arose as Poilievre accused Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff of distancing himself from the carbon tax policy initiated by former party leader Stéphane Dion.

“On that side of the House, they have the man who fathered the carbon tax, put it up for adoption to his predecessor and now wants a paternity test to prove the tar baby was never his in the first place,” said Poilievre, the parliamentary secretary to the prime minister [Stephen Harper].

The Liberals and the NDP later asked Poilievre to withdraw the comment and apologize, saying the phrase carried racist undertones, but Poilievre refused.

“Tar baby is a common reference that refers to issues that stick to one,” he said.

While that is a dictionary definition of tar baby, the term has also been used as a slur to describe black children.

About the CBC’s last sentence, please notice this: While “tar baby” has been used in some contexts as a slur to describe black children, the relevant fact here is that in the context of usage in the discussion at the House of Commons—a context involving a truly difficult/ sticky tax problem having to do with the oil and tar sands industry, a sticky problem introduced/ birthed by a Liberal leader and then cast aside/ handed off to another Liberal leader—in this context the proper English dictionary definition of “tar baby” was in use.

And, significantly, if meaning arises via use in a particular context (or “language game,” as philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein famously argued), then Poilievre handled the term “tar baby” and its proper English dictionary definition with finesse.

A sticky problem remains

I will close by saying this: It seems to me that those who suggest Poilievre was intending or using “tar baby” as a racial slur show their ignorance of proper English and perhaps their lack of proper education.

So now I have a question for Liberals who in 2025 continue to suggest Poilievre’s one-time use of “tar baby” in the House of Commons in 2009 counts as a racial slur. Here is my question: What about Justin Trudeau’s countless episodes of blackface?

The fact is that these Liberals supported Trudeau as their leader for ten years. And Canada’s present Prime Minister Mark Carney supported Trudeau, too.

If anyone has a sticky problem, it’s the Liberals.[1]

 

Note

1. At this juncture, a Liberal might object that at least Justin Trudeau apologized for his racism but Pierre Poilievre did not. My replies: (1) Poilievre had nothing to apologize for whereas Trudeau did; (2) Trudeau’s apologies are a dime a dozen; (3) Liberals who make this objection continue to show ignorance of proper English usage (see my argument above). Again, if anyone has a sticky problem, it’s the Liberals.

 

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Hendrik van der Breggen, PhD, is a retired philosophy professor who lives in Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada. Hendrik is author of the book Untangling Trudeau: MAID, COVID, ABORTION, LGBTQ+. (Hendrik’s book may be helpful to Canadians for better understanding Prime Minister Mark Carney and those who have staunchly supported former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Also, the book should be read by Conservatives and others who hold views similar to Liberals on medical assistance in dying, Covid mandates, abortion, and LGBTQ matters.)