Friday, May 13, 2011

"Common sense" of the "Common people"

Oh, Canada. After the excitement of the election and the searing debate about whether Quebec would use the NDP to break up with the rest of Canada, we didn't notice that our backs were turned to the west and some weird stuff was happening. B.C's Conservative party has a leadership race ongoing, but there is only one candidate - the same man who is currently acting leader, John Cummins, a man whose furrowed, overhanging brows and stern gaze bring to mind a certain NRA spokes-Moses.

Determined to hit the gays - erm, excuse me - ground running, he has gone on record saying he does not believe homosexuality should be included on the list of prohibited grounds for discrimination in the Human Rights Act because he believes it is a choice, so, you know, not like religion or marital status then... Well, to be fair, he says he is "pro-traditional marriage", so it is possible he means pro-arranged marriage, in which case one's marital status would not be a personal choice; it would be a parental choice.

But enough cheap shots; I shouldn't be allowed to scrutinize his "personal issues, private issues" I mean, it's not like he's attempting to force his personal private issues on the general public by running for political office, right? The more dedicated readers will point out that I have previously defended Mr. Harper when the media was examining his religious affiliations, but the difference here is that the beliefs are the issue, where they came from should not be.

I do hate that I agree with him when asked if attacks against homosexuals should be considered a hate crime, he responded that "If there's a crime against anybody, that crime should be dealt with to the full extent of the law". I do think they should be considered hate crimes, but I can appreciate the pragmatism here. He goes on to ruin the honeymoon by saying he dislikes judging motives in crimes, just like they do in manslaughter vs. murder trials, etc., but we had a special moment for a second.

Anyway, there is no need to saddle up the Panic Pants yet, the party is only a tiny fringe party, gaining two percent of the vote (in contrast, the green got eight) but this man used to be a federal MP, and it is possible he could gain supporters. Typically the right support the B.C. Liberal party, but we should all just be aware that we can't just dismiss B.C as a bunch of tree-hugging, Starbucks-swilling, Seattle wannabes (is that offensive?) They've taken a look in our crazy backyard, and they like what they see.

1 comment:

Electric said...

Heh... I think the oil sands were mentioned in my Vancouver college Crim 101 class yesterday in the same voice reserved for 'Nazi' or 'poodle'.

Provincial digs aside, the comments are generating the same disgust on this side of the border, too.