# Stephen Harper, Leader of the Opposition compares Same Sex Marriage to Fleeing Jews? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 17, 2005, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-harper-leader-of-the-opposition-compares-same-sex-marriage-to-fleeing-jews/290538 "2005-02-17T14:58:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CuriousCanuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@CuriousCanuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CuriousCanuck)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-harper-leader-of-the-opposition-compares-same-sex-marriage-to-fleeing-jews/290538/1 "2005-02-17T14:58:39Z")
From today’s G&M… [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050217.wxsamesex17/BNStory/National/](http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050217.wxsamesex17/BNStory/National/) > [@](#): > > Conservative Leader Stephen Harper tried to paint Paul Martin’s party with a legacy of intolerance as the same-sex-marriage debate began in Parliament, saying a Liberal government interned Japanese Canadians and closed the borders to Jews fleeing Nazi Germany. > > Let us not forget, it is the Liberal Party that said ‘none is too many,’ when it came to Jews fleeing from Hitler," Mr. Harper said yesterday. > > “It is the Liberal Party that interned Japanese Canadians in camps on Canada’s West Coast, an act which [former prime minister] Pierre Trudeau refused to apologize or make restitution for.” I… have no words. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-harper-leader-of-the-opposition-compares-same-sex-marriage-to-fleeing-jews/290538/2 "2005-02-17T15:17:24Z")
He does have a point in that the Liberals shouldn’t paint themselves as Canada’s champions of human rights, however you like to define that. Pop Quiz: Q. Which “respected”, and currently serving, U.S. Democratic Senator was a fervent member/official of the Klu Klux Klan? ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-harper-leader-of-the-opposition-compares-same-sex-marriage-to-fleeing-jews/290538/3 "2005-02-17T15:21:24Z")
Nobody actually thinks that the Liberals then are the Liberals now, it’s beyond obvious that modern liberals don’t approve of those actions. What he said is just fucked up. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-harper-leader-of-the-opposition-compares-same-sex-marriage-to-fleeing-jews/290538/4 "2005-02-17T15:26:32Z")
> [@mks57](#): > > Q. Which “respected”, and currently serving, U.S. Democratic Senator was a fervent member/official of the Klu Klux Klan? Wait! Wait! Let me guess! Don’t tell me! I mean, it’s not like this isn’t pulled up from the depths every time the right-wingers want to slap the Democrats with something, right? Robert Byrd. Duh. You failed to mention, however, that Byrd long ago repudiated his ties to and actions with the Klan, ties and actions which happened over 40 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-harper-leader-of-the-opposition-compares-same-sex-marriage-to-fleeing-jews/290538/5 "2005-02-17T15:26:53Z")
What, is he saying that the Liberals should be consistant and keep oppressing gays, just to be fair to other groups that have been opporessed? any port in a storm, I guess, Stephen. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-harper-leader-of-the-opposition-compares-same-sex-marriage-to-fleeing-jews/290538/6 "2005-02-17T15:30:57Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Wait! Wait! Let me guess! Don’t tell me! I mean, it’s not like this isn’t pulled up from the depths every time the right-wingers want to slap the Democrats with something, right? > > Robert Byrd. Duh. You failed to mention, however, that Byrd long ago repudiated his ties to and actions with the Klan, ties and actions which happened over 40 years ago. It THAT how this works? If it happened long enough ago it doesn’t count? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Orbifold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orbifold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orbifold)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-harper-leader-of-the-opposition-compares-same-sex-marriage-to-fleeing-jews/290538/7 "2005-02-17T15:46:06Z")
Wow. Mr. Harper…wow. I mean this: > [@](#): > > Mr. Harper argued that the bill does not protect religious minorities. Although it says religious groups would not be compelled to perform same-sex marriages, he said it does not shield a religious group that might wish, for example, to ban a gay couple from holding their wedding reception in its church hall. No…no it doesn’t. It also doesn’t shield religious groups from alien rectal probes. Which is about as _likely_ as Mr. Harper’s doomsday scenario about churches being forced to rent out private property against their will. ---
**Author:** ![Jillyvn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Jillyvn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jillyvn)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-harper-leader-of-the-opposition-compares-same-sex-marriage-to-fleeing-jews/290538/8 "2005-02-17T15:53:13Z")
> [@Raygun99](#): > > What, is he saying that the Liberals should be consistant and keep oppressing gays, just to be fair to other groups that have been opporessed? > > any port in a storm, I guess, Stephen. LOL! I have coffee on my monitor… too funny. Good ol’ Stephen. He’s a politician to the nth degree. He’s backing an exclusionary policy by claiming to be doing the best thing for those “gays”, who, after all, couldn’t possibly understand something as sociologically important as marriage. Give me a fucking break. What a jackass, and what a deserved pitting. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-harper-leader-of-the-opposition-compares-same-sex-marriage-to-fleeing-jews/290538/9 "2005-02-17T15:55:59Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > It THAT how this works? If it happened long enough ago it doesn’t count? :rolleyes: C’mon, Dave. You know better than to think that would be my whole argument. The first part of my sentence: > [@](#): > > Byrd long ago repudiated his ties to and actions with the Klan is the important part. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-harper-leader-of-the-opposition-compares-same-sex-marriage-to-fleeing-jews/290538/10 "2005-02-17T16:07:34Z")
You guys want to keep your American partisan bickering out of our Canadian partisan bickering thread? Frankly, I’m baffled by Harper’s comments. What can he possibly hope to gain from them? Since he’s the one opposing equality here, his examples naturally invite comparison between his party and these past actions of the Liberals. Surely that’s not what he wants, though. Presumably he’s trying to impugn the motives of the current Liberals, but it’s hard to see that he has any sort of argument there - “The Liberals did bad things in the past, so you shouldn’t support them now that they’re doing a good thing?” Doesn’t make any sense. Any way you read it, current Tories come off looking worse than current Grits. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-harper-leader-of-the-opposition-compares-same-sex-marriage-to-fleeing-jews/290538/11 "2005-02-17T16:24:39Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > Frankly, I’m baffled by Harper’s comments. What can he possibly hope to gain from them? Since he’s the one opposing equality here, his examples naturally invite comparison between his party and these past actions of the Liberals. Surely that’s not what he wants, though. Presumably he’s trying to impugn the motives of the current Liberals, but it’s hard to see that he has any sort of argument there - “The Liberals did bad things in the past, so you shouldn’t support them now that they’re doing a good thing?” Doesn’t make any sense. Any way you read it, current Tories come off looking worse than current Grits. That’s the crux of the problem. They seem to be playing the demographic split and trying to tap into resentment of the Liberal party’s tendency to accuse those not supporting its policies as unCanadian. Unfortunately they’re: 1. Fucking up any support they’ve attempted to build in Quebec. 2. Fucking up any support they’ve manage to gain in moderate Ontario 3. Fucking up the demographic. Yeah those over 50 vote more but they die sooner. 4. Screwing up their PR while trying to split the immigrant vote away from the Liberals If they at least had their damn policy convention before all this they might have either straightened out their position (say divorce religious marriage from civil marriage) or at least had practice cleaning up the mess they’re making. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-harper-leader-of-the-opposition-compares-same-sex-marriage-to-fleeing-jews/290538/12 "2005-02-17T16:29:24Z")
I’m not sure the policy convention is going to matter anymore. With Harper demanding to vet the speeches of Tory members, it looks like he’s intent on just imposing his policies on his supposedly grassroots party. It’s too bad. I had hoped we might get a credible socially moderate fiscally conservative opposition party out of these guys, but they seem intent on re-marginalizing themselves every time round. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-harper-leader-of-the-opposition-compares-same-sex-marriage-to-fleeing-jews/290538/13 "2005-02-17T17:36:22Z")
Has Stephen Harper _ever_ made sense? _has a very pessimistic view of Canadian politics right now_ ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-harper-leader-of-the-opposition-compares-same-sex-marriage-to-fleeing-jews/290538/14 "2005-02-17T17:48:46Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > It THAT how this works? If it happened long enough ago it doesn’t count? :rolleyes: Actually when you don’t actually renounce or repudiate anything, and indeed still take CCC money and play to Bob Jones, THATS when it doesn’t count. Sorry to have to clear that up. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-harper-leader-of-the-opposition-compares-same-sex-marriage-to-fleeing-jews/290538/15 "2005-02-17T18:37:51Z")
Stephen Harper is a fine piece of work. Here’s something he had to say a little while ago: > [@](#): > > “I don’t want to get into the polygamy debate, but I fear if we do this, the next thing on the Liberal agenda will be polygamy and who knows what else.” And that, my friends, is called [_proslepsis._](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proslepsis) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-harper-leader-of-the-opposition-compares-same-sex-marriage-to-fleeing-jews/290538/16 "2005-02-17T18:46:06Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > It THAT how this works? If it happened long enough ago it doesn’t count? :rolleyes: _Sigh_. While Apos rightly points out that this individual is a bad example; even I must admit that after a lengthy time of improved behavior we have to stop punishing people for past misdeeds or no-one will have a reason to better themselves. Granted, the deeper the “sin” the longer time penance must take, but at some point we have to believe people have changed. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-harper-leader-of-the-opposition-compares-same-sex-marriage-to-fleeing-jews/290538/17 "2005-02-17T18:47:43Z")
I never thought I’d learn a new word in the BBQ Pit today. 🆒 _snogs **matt\_mcl** _ ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-harper-leader-of-the-opposition-compares-same-sex-marriage-to-fleeing-jews/290538/18 "2005-02-17T18:58:51Z")
!!! You’re cute, kid, but I don’t swing on that vine. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-harper-leader-of-the-opposition-compares-same-sex-marriage-to-fleeing-jews/290538/19 "2005-02-17T19:30:07Z")
We’re all going to have amental image that matt\_mcl looks like Brendon Frasier now. Which is pity since matt’s much cuter than he is. ---
**Author:** ![scule](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@scule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scule)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2005, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-harper-leader-of-the-opposition-compares-same-sex-marriage-to-fleeing-jews/290538/20 "2005-02-17T19:52:54Z")
I just don’t get the Conservatives anymore. I really don’t. It’s not like we have a significant religious right here in Canada to pander to, nor a generally really heavy right wing viewpoint. Canadians seem to be centrist most of all. And I have yet to see any poll in which a majority are against same sex marriage, so where’s he going with this? I had high hopes that a union of the CRAP party and the PCs would lead to a better conservative message along the lines of the old PC party, but we’ve instead got some idiot with delusions of issues that don’t exist . When will we see a real conservative party in Canada, one just slightly right of centre, that can really give a better voice in Parliament. I think I should write to Harper about this, but I don’t know where to start. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-harper-leader-of-the-opposition-compares-same-sex-marriage-to-fleeing-jews/290538.md?page=2)