Apparently Homophobia is alive and well in Canada...

[burntsand]

And that couldn’t possibly have anything to do with a Liberal-dominated, Toronto-based media eagerly jumping on every Alliance gaffe as further proof that everyone west of Thunder Bay is a know-nothing, redneck, homophobic racist?

Astonishingly enough, many of the people living in Calgary are from “back East”. If we’re all redneck racists, then it was Ontari-ari-ari-o that made us this way.

Maybe if the media was as concerned with Jean Chretien’s corruption, stupidity, and venality as with Stockwell Day’s fundamentalism, we wouldn’t effectively be living in a one-party state in this country.

[alice_in_wonderland]

Maybe.

But at least corruption, stupidity and venality make sense.

[Grey]

All in all the Alliance seems a looser chip than the Liberal one. Though the Alliance seems to punt their idiots from the party.

The fact is that a large number of Canadians do not support the complete integration of gays into mainstream society. You can consider that wrong, stupid or bigoted; however it seems to follow that you will get politicians reflecting those views.

[Grey]

Unless we’re assuming politicians are our best and brightest?

[alice_in_wonderland]

*Originally posted by Grey *
**Unless we’re assuming politicians are our best and brightest? **

<snort>

[Grey]

You mean I’ve been misled?

[alice_in_wonderland]

Sorry dude. It’s that pesky politicians/lying correlation poping up again.

[vl_mungo]

Glad to hear that jerkoff was turfed out of his Party. That doesn’t change the fact that they’re still a bunch of crackers and nazis… and that goes double for The Alliance.

[GingerOfTheNorth]

*Originally posted by Lockz *
Ginger, kindly fuck off. Sure, it’s nice for left-wingers everywhere to see every single Alliance party member as homophobic quacks. Sure, some of them are, as this idiot demonstrates. Not all of us are like that. Hell, some of us have some differing views than Mr. Harper on how some policies should be! How about that?

But again, thank you for painting every single member of the Official Opposition in Canada (so that means you’ve just insulted PLENTY of Canadians) with the same wide brush. And of course, what would happen if you did that to another group? Everyone would jump on and deride you for it. I thought we tried to avoid doing that sort of thing here. **

Perhaps you are unaware that I am from Alberta, from Preston Manning’s former riding, and a former supporter of the now-Alliance party. I campaigned for Mr. Manning. I used to have a subscription to Alberta Report fer pete’s sake. Don’t tell me I don’t know that others can’t hold opposing views from that of Mr. Harper, because I do. I am merely not surprised that it was an Alliance party member, knowing that I have known party members to be right-wing, religious (when it has no place in politics) and anti-homosexual. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, homosexuality is not a concern of the government and that has been the official stance since 1969.

For your information, Lockz, I am not a ‘left-winger’ any more than you are the tooth fairy.

[Grey]

Ginger a complete hijack but how did religion get nestled into the Reform party? Was it simply a tradition = conservative thing? For a party of personal financial choice and personal responsibility the Christian aspect continues to throw me.

[waterj2]

*Originally posted by matt_mcl *
I’m certainly on record as saying that I think the situation for Queers is better, on the whole, in Canada than the US, which I think is accurate, especially on the judicial level. I mean please girlfriend: we were getting gay marriage when you guys were still working on sodomy laws.

Hey, we’re getting gay marriage here, in like a couple months. Or perhaps civil unions. Then again, Cambridge isn’t really necessarily right on the political pulse of the nation.

Then again, the sodomy law (which, it must be said, covers heterosexual sodomy as well) is still on the books, though it hasn’t been enforceable in years.

[GingerOfTheNorth]

*Originally posted by Grey *
**Ginger a complete hijack but how did religion get nestled into the Reform party? Was it simply a tradition = conservative thing? For a party of personal financial choice and personal responsibility the Christian aspect continues to throw me. **

I never honestly questioned it before. Growing up in rural Alberta, it just seemed natural that everyone was Christian. I knew one family that was not, and they were immigrants from Tanzania. I grew up attending church with our (PC) MLA and his family, so why wouldn’t all politicians be Christian? Everyone else was.

From this site, a bit of history:

many political parties in Canada have their origins in religious movements or, at least, have a religious reference point. The Social Credit Party, which began in the 1930s with radio talks from William “Bible Bill” Aberhart, was Christianity-based. The success of Ernest Manning, Aberhart’s successor and the Social Credit premier of Alberta from 1943 to 1968, was founded in his Sunday morning religious services from the Princess Theatre in Edmonton.

The Social Credit Party was a major political force in Alberta and British Columbia in the 1950s and 1960s. Many of the roots of the Alliance Party, which started as the Reform Party under Ernest Manning’s son, Preston, were in the Social Credit movement. As well, the Social Credit movement in Quebec, called the Créditistes, which flashed onto the political scene in the early 1960s and lasted through the 1970s, was started by a fundamentalist Christian movement in that province.

[matt_mcl]

Oh, my, my:

Critics of merger pounce on anti-gay remarks (CBC)

OTTAWA - Former Conservative leader Joe Clark says a Canadian Alliance MP’s comments about the need to make homosexuality illegal prove that the Tories should not merge with the party.

[Lockz]

First, a general apology. I’ve had plenty going on at school today (should probably post to the stressed students thread), and I’ve been tired due to one assignment in particular. Thus the snarkiness.

I’ll usually defend my views, but not quite so vigorously as when I bashed Ginger, she just affected me with what I say branding all Alliance members with being homophobic.

[Grey]

*Originally posted by matt_mcl *
**Oh, my, my:

Critics of merger pounce on anti-gay remarks (CBC)

OTTAWA - Former Conservative leader Joe Clark says a Canadian Alliance MP’s comments about the need to make homosexuality illegal prove that the Tories should not merge with the party.

**

This is rich coming from the gentleman who failed to strip Elsie Wayne of her Deputy Leader status if I remember right.

Tory MP Scott Brison, who is openly gay and is running for the party leadership, said the remarks verge on bigotry. He called on Wayne to step aside as deputy leader.

Tory Leader Joe Clark released a statement that said Wayne would be deputy leader until his own term ends on May 31.

“As a citizen, she is entitled to express her personal opinions but should be conscious of their impact on others,” the statement said.

Her opinions aren’t those of Clark or the party, he said.

from the CBC

[matt_mcl]

Well, to be fair, Ms. Wayne did say we should just shut up, which is indeed obnoxious, but not quite as obnoxious as saying we should turn straight or go to jail.

So apparently, we have the insane Tory who’s about in the same place as the Alliance mainstream, and the insane Alliance who’s that much farther out again. Good to know. huddles under big orange umbrella

[Grey]

True. I’m slightly heartened by the response of the respective parties (massive demotion vs. a shrug). I mean if we’re looking for a “half full” type of optics.

All I want is a party/government that lets me spend/buy what I want and stays out of my personal life.

And a pony.

[GingerOfTheNorth]

A pony, in Ottawa? Where would you keep it?

Oh, right. 24 Sussex.

[KarmaComa]

Are you slurring the prime minister’s wife, ma’am?

[GingerOfTheNorth]

Nope, just that there’s all that land, in Ottawa. And it does belong to the people, right? Ponies like to run around. It couldn’t do that in, say, a back yard, unless it was a really really big one.