(Canadian) Tory anti-gay marriage campaign targets ethnic groups

[Newsjock]

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/01/19/conservative-marriage050119.html

QUEBEC CITY - The federal Conservative party confirmed Wednesday it will be launching an advertising campaign against gay marriage that will make an appeal to ethnic groups.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper says the party needs to send a clear message against the proposed change to the legal definition of marriage.

"Frankly, we think a clear majority of Canadians support the compromise I put forward, including a lot of people who vote Liberal and traditionally don't vote for this party," said Harper, following a speech to the Quebec City Chamber of Commerce.

Harper has said he believes the traditional definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman should be preserved and that homosexual couples should have civil unions with the sames rights as married people.

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[Maple]

1. Another stupid move

It won't change the legal situation, and it will just put the Conservative party behind the times again politically.

If there is any way to harm themselves nationally, the Conservative Party finds it. :D

[UL_Approved]

2. I await the "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" story

Looks like the Conservatives in Canada are getting up with discrimination. Stevie has always been the butt of jokes from what I have seen, both on standard and satire news.

My favorite one of them all, and real: Canadian Conservative Reform Alliance Party (CCRAP).

[tuvor]

3. Steven Harper should outlaw divorce, too, then.

Unless he's a hypocrite.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. It would be an interesting experiment

Offer "marriage" - 'traditional', ie no divorce allowed, ever, and only between a man and a woman; or "civil unions" - with divorce as currently practised, and between mixed and same sex couples. I wonder how many of Harper's supporters would suddenly decide they prefer civil unions.

[LynnTheDem]

4. I'm back to Canada next year...and Harper BETTER BE GONE by then.

Or I'm just gonna have to kick his arse OUT of Canada and down to Crawford, Texass, where he'll be right at home with his bushie pals.

[Spazito]

5. Harper, the perfect example of open mouth, install foot...

this attempt to subvert the Charter of Rights will fail as have all the other times he has tried to ride the political wave of discrimination. Gay marriage is not a splinter issue in Canada, the majority of Canadians support equal rights for all, period.

For me, this makes it even easier to show the bigoted, racist underpinnings of the faux Conservative party when the next election comes around.

[daleo]

7. I have never understood the point of this

If same sex civil unions have exactly the same rights as opposite sex married couples, then why even bother objecting over a word? All I can think of is:

- Harper really doesn't mind same sex marriage, but sees this as a wedge issue to draw off some centrist voters.

- Harper does object to same sex marriage, and is using this as a stalling tactic. When the time comes, he will drag his feet on the civil union promise.

Frankly, I have met a lot of bigoted people in the last while when it comes to this issue, so I wouldn't discount his strategy altogether.

[Spazito]

8. Harper is using it in hopes of a wedge issue...

and to pump up his base in preparation for the next election. It will fail and he has, instead, given those of us against extremist parties more ammunition.

[sakabatou]

9. Aren't most Canadians progressive?

God... I need to type better...

[Lisa]

10. trying to sow conflict ...

What a sleazy, destructive way to try to get political points. Presuming to speak for Canada's ethnic minorities, and claiming to be protecting their rights -- even though many of Harper's "base" are anti-immigration and are nostalgic about "the good old days" when "undesirables" (non-whites, that is) were restricted by law, e.g. the Chinese exclusion act. Pitting cultures against each other, on the pretext of defending traditional marriage. He hasn't thought through the long-term implications -- or else he doesn't care.

The people who complain about a Punjabi family moving onto their street because "there are so many of them"? The people who seriously said that Canada should push those ships full of Chinese migrants back into the ocean "and let the winter storms take care of them"? The people who tell Japanese-Canadians that their families "were probably capable of terrorism and deserved to be in prison camp"? The people who classify Jewish and Italian Canadians as "dark-skinned foreigners who are not like us and will never be real Canadians"? Oh yes, this will do wonders for tolerance, multiculturalism, and national unity.

I have met examples of all these people, and -- surprise, surprise! -- the ones I've spoken to are all supporters of Harper's party. I won't even call them "Conservatives", or especially "Tories", because people like Joe Clark and Robert Stanfield would cringe to see this. One "gentleman" I met last year, after insisting that Joe Clark "wasn't really elected Prime Minister" (wrong!!!), went on to say that Maher Arar and his wife Monia were cunning terrorists who had tricked everyone, and that he could "hardly wait for them to try to kill somebody" (exact words!) so that the NDP and Liberals would be revealed as dupes of al-Qaeda.

It would be funny if it weren't so frightening.