# You could at least PRETEND to be interested in AIDS, Mr. Harper

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-could-at-least-pretend-to-be-interested-in-aids-mr-harper/368599>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [August 13, 2006, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-could-at-least-pretend-to-be-interested-in-aids-mr-harper/368599 "2006-08-13T23:38:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-could-at-least-pretend-to-be-interested-in-aids-mr-harper/368599/21 "2006-08-17T16:51:48Z")

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[QUOTE=matt\_mcl]  
What I meant was, it’s not as though he’s made it a leading light of his public position. It’s not like child tax credits or scrapping Kyoto or repealing gay marriage or cutting the GST.  
[/QUOTE]

When was “repealing gay marriage” a central part of his platform? Specific references, please.

Oh, that’s right; it never was. Come on, we’ve had this discussion before.

> [@](#):
>
> That’s fine. But if they mean to do things, they might as well tell us about them. It’s not as though if Harper had to make time to give a 20-minute speech at a plenary in Toronto, he wouldn’t have any time left to actually _fund_ AIDS programmes.

So the Health Minister has said nothing?

Look, if the feds aren’t doing enough about AIDS, why don’t you tell us what it is they should be doing that they aren’t? You know, actualy hard, concrete action? Screw the photo ops.

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**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:** [August 17, 2006, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-could-at-least-pretend-to-be-interested-in-aids-mr-harper/368599/22 "2006-08-17T16:57:39Z")

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To be fair, repealing gay marriage (or at least, holding another vote on the issue with the intention to vote against it) was one of the very first policies announced during the last election campaign. Central, no, it didn’t rank with Harper’s 5 priorities or whatever, but opposing gay marriage has certainly been a part of the Conservative position for as long as the party has existed. If the Tories had the votes to pull it off, I guarantee you’d see C-38 repealed and replaced with some separate-and-unequal thing that would have us in for another 5 years of legal battles.

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**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2006, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-could-at-least-pretend-to-be-interested-in-aids-mr-harper/368599/23 "2006-08-17T20:44:36Z")

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[QUOTE=Gorsnak]  
To be fair, repealing gay marriage (or at least, holding another vote on the issue with the intention to vote against it) was one of the very first policies announced during the last election campaign.  
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No, it was not. Harper’s position - and it was a weaselly one, but the distinction is very important - was _to hold a free vote on the issue_.

The fact that Harper called for a “Free vote” instead of a whipped vote where the government’s position was repealment was not an accident, it was quite deliberate.

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