A new policy initiated by Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that requires all federally regulated employers, including airports and military bases, to offer free menstrual products in all washrooms, regardless of gender, has set off a firestorm online, the New York Post reported Tuesday.
Attention was drawn to the change last week after former Canadian Conservative Sen. Linda Frum posted a photo of a basket offering free pads and tampons inside a men's bathroom for transgender members of Parliament.
Frum wrote on X: "Back in the day, when only women menstruated, we had to pay for our own products. But now that men menstruate too, these products, as of this week, are mandated to be free in all men's washrooms in all federal workplaces, including Parliament Hill — where this photo was taken today."
Trudeau's government explained that "providing employees with access to menstrual products supports better health outcomes and workplace productivity while reducing the stigma often associated with menstruation," the New York Post reported.
Each employer is required to find the funding necessary to buy these products and disposal containers.
The change to the law was announced in May and went into effect Dec. 15.
Providing free tampons and other menstrual products creates a more equitable work environment, said Period Packs Executive Director Megan White.
"It makes a huge difference knowing that they're consistently there and you don't have to carry one with you everywhere, like at the bottom of your purse or the bottom of your school bag or in your pocket," White said.
Frum added that limiting menstrual products to only women's bathrooms would force all transgender men to use that washroom.
Political columnist Brian Lilley criticized the policy, arguing that the Trudeau government is ignoring the country's growing affordability issues in favor of bathroom equity measures.
"We are eliminating the language that identifies women as being distinct from men," Lilley wrote, adding that "as a society, we can be respectful" but that does not mean "we need to ignore biology and pretend that men are now having periods."
People's Party leader Maxime Bernier also slammed the new policy on X, writing: "The liberal decision to distribute tampons in men's toilets everywhere, including on military bases, is just another step in the systematic attack against masculinity, and part of a wider ideological battle."