Originally posted by: Stunt
The people of Canada are sick of Paul Martin and the Liberals, we need a campaign to clear the misperceptions of the Tories. Fear mongering by the Liberals is just disgusting, reminds me of the Swiftboat smearing last election in the States.
The Tories look to be a frightening group of people (if you are not white, male, christian and heterosexual that is - of course you will be OK, Stunt)
Anti-Gay US Groups Try To Seize Control Of Canadian Political Party
by Ben Thompson 365Gay.com Ottawa Bureau
May 31, 2005 12:01 am ET
(Ottawa)
Conservative Christian groups have grabbed control of nearly a dozen Conservative Party ridings across Canada and vow they will ensure the party adheres to a strict right wing agenda including an end to same-sex marriage.
Candidates with close ties the Canadian branches of groups including Focus on the Family and other American evangelical groups have won party nominations in three provinces: Four in British Columbia, three in Nova Scotia, and one in Ontario. The groups also have succeeded in having their members win votes to become riding association presidents elsewhere in the country.
And they say that it is only the beginning.
The Globe and Mail reports that the groups are preparing to put up candidates for Conservative Party nominations in other regions as the country prepares for an election late this year or early in 2006.
Even though the Conservative Party is the only federal party to oppose same-sex marriage, the right wing groups say they want to be assured that if a bill currently before Parliament to legalize gay marriage is passed it would be repealed by the next government.
Conservatives on Monday managed to stall the government's bill to legalize same-sex marriage in those parts of Canada where it is still prohibited.
The Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin had hoped to have the bill passed by summer recess. But, Conservatives on a committee studying the legislation have announced they will call more than two dozen witnesses to voice concerns about the legislation.
It now is likely the marriage bill will not be enacted before fall, and Conservatives say they hope to delay it even further in a bid to let the measure die in an election call.
Evangelical Christians have been busy over the past six registering their supporters in Conservative riding associations so that they have a strong voice in choosing who will run.
But, not all Tories are in favor of the plans by FOC and others.
"The difficulty, from a party perspective, is that it begins to hijack the other agendas that parties have," Ross Haynes told the Globe and Mail. Haynes lost the Conservative nomination in the riding of Halifax to one of three "Christian, pro-family people" recommended by a minister at a religious rally this spring in Kentville, N.S.
Tristan Emmanuel, a Halifax evangelist with ties to Focus on the Family, makes no apologies.
"It's time we stopped apologizing and started defending who we are," he said. "The evangelical community in Canada, by and large, and socially conservative Catholics, are saying we have been far too heavenly minded and thus we have been of no earthly value for far too long, on too many fronts."
Darrel Reid, the Conservative Party candidate in Richmond, B.C., is a past president of Focus on the Family Canada. "The reason I entered this nomination contest is because I am really concerned about the direction our government is going," Reid told the Globe.
Rondo Thomas won the party's nomination in a suburban Toronto riding. Thomas is a top official with the Canada Christian College, which is run by Charles McVety, a senior director of the Defend Marriage Coalition.
Focus on the Family, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado has reportedly sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to its Canadian affiliate to wage an anti-gay campaign and the Roman Catholic Knights Of Columbus in the US recently spent nearly $100,000 to print two million postcards to be distributed in Catholic churches across Canada for people to send to Members of Parliament opposing gay marriage. (story)
The growing number of anti-gay candidates is making some moderate Conservative MPs nervous. "It's making the party look extreme and making me nervous," said one MP who asked that his name not be used.
But, the growing coziness between Christian conservative groups and the party should not be a surprise.
In April Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper addressed a rally on Parliament Hill organized by many of the groups now trying to take control of the Tories.
At the time he told the 15,000 people bussed in from across Canada that if his party is elected to govern he would would abolish the same-sex marriage law.
Harper and the Conservatives have been receiving help from the Republican Party. GOP advisers and consultants have been working with the party for more than a year.
Earlier this month moderate Conservative MP Belinda Stronach left the party and joined the Liberals. Stronach, who supports same-sex marriage said she had become disillusioned with the Tories and accused Harper of pandering to extremists. (story)
©365Gay.com 2005
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