Rights

Svend Robinson: “How many other Larry Spencers are there in the Canadian Alliance caucus that just haven’t given interviews?”

by alec on November 28, 2003

The fallout continues this morning on Larry Spencer’s remarks. The Globe’s Alliance-Tory merger hits roadblock on gays gives a good round-up of what’s going on, and at the end of the article suggests that Stephen Harper may take a harder line with Larry Spencer than he did yesterday.

The Globe also published a Compendium of Alliance Gaffes, which didn’t appear in the online edition. This short little montage of intolerance leaves one with the impression that the Alliance is simply incapable of change. The stink that surrounds the Alliance is not going to disappear quickly, even with the merger.

Susan Riley, writing in the Ottawa Citizen, get’s it dead on in Harper’s risky balancing act. She points out that while he tries to keep the "social conservatives" on side by opposing gay marriage, demography will ultimately marginalize any party that adheres to this position. Women, young people, and Quebecers are the groups most in favour of legal gay marriages. Young people are a growing demographic, and in order to be successful a merged conservative party must reach out to women and Quebecers as well.

Harper’s tepid response is probably the thing which has damaged him the most in this episode. His weak condemnation of Larry Spencer has the fiscal conservatives of the new party scrambling to find a more acceptable candidate in the upcoming leadership race. The new party is going to have to do everything it can to erase the reputation for bigotry that the Alliance has accumulated. Harper is simply too weak on these issues to be credible as a leader.

A tie vote

by alec on September 7, 2003

Most disheartening of all about last nights’ vote was that the first time round it was a tie vote – 134 to 134. It was not until the speaker of the house ruled that the original Alliance motion had to stand, which called on Parliament to take "all necessary steps" to preserve marriage as an exclusively heterosexual institution, invoking the spectre of the notwithstanding clause, that enough Liberal MP’s felt compelled to vote against the motion. Nearly a third of the Liberal caucus supported the Alliance motion.

Toronto Star: PM wins same-sex vote, but only just.

John Ibbitson, writing in the Globe and Mail this morning, takes Stephen Harper to task in A stark reflection of the two halves of Canada. He writes:

Mr. Harper and his followers have forgotten that, while homosexuality is as ancient as the race, so too is persecution of homosexuality. We have persecuted them as we have persecuted Jews and women and blacks and every other group who, to paraphrase Cecil Rhodes, were losers in the lottery of life.

Stephen Harper’s careful choices of words, referring to "homosexual behaviour", rather than sexual orientation, and Stockwell Day’s nasty fear mongering about the "homosexual lifestyle" and "compulsory social reprogramming" hearken back to Nazi Germany and the propaganda and fear mongering that Hitler used to justify genocide against the Jews.

Chantal Hebert, writing in the Star in a piece titled Neither side can force the issue, analyzes the politics behind yesterday’s vote. She notes that:

The front bench of the government sat empty for the best part of the debate leading up to the vote. With the sole exception of Cauchon, no cabinet minister waded into the discussion. Neither leadership contender Sheila Copps nor the Prime Minister himself took the opportunity to defend the government’s plan.

It seems clear what is going to happen here. The Government knows that, as Hebert puts it, the dice are loaded in favour of same-sex marriage. So, Stephen Harper will try to make this into a wedge issue for the next election, same-sex marriage will happen by default, and Canadians are in for a round of hate-mongering the likes of which we haven’t seen in a long long time.

Canada stalls on Gay Marriage

August 17, 2002

Canada stalls on gay marriage question. Isn’t this just an inevitable conclusion? From what I read, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has pretty much pre-ordained this. So get over it! And get over this too! Let Charles be king and marry Camilla – poll

Read the full article →