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Beating up on gay pride will not be the central issue in the next election campaign. But it does damage the Conservative brand.
OTTAWA—Sometimes a government just dies the death of a thousand cuts. There is not one big bang that does it in, merely a series of little explosions that ultimately prove fatal.
One such wound was self-inflicted this week. The decision to strip Small Business and Tourism Minister Diane Ablonczy of the $100-million Marquee Events Tourism Funding program seemed at odds with a tourism mandate.
The Prime Minister would have approved the transfer to Industry minister Tony Clement in writing, since he is responsible for machinery of government changes.
Which begs the question. Why create a problem where none exists? The decision had nothing to do with public policy and a lot to do with appeasing disgruntled right-wing caucus colleagues like Saskatchewan Member of Parliament Brad Trost.
Trost boasted on an anti-abortion website that Ablonczy was punished for funding the Toronto Gay Pride Parade.
Toronto Gay Pride Week is a marquee event of its kind in the world, culminating in a parade involving 1.2 million spectators and participants. Colour me naïve, but isn't it the job of a tourism minister to support events that draw tourists to Canada.
The feeble official explanation for the switch was that Clement had time on his hands since the auto crisis was waning.
In the same week that the Supreme Court of India decriminalized consenting homosexual acts, the Canadian government left the rest of world wondering about where we stand on equality rights.
This summer we celebrate the 40th anniversary of a Canadian government decision to decriminalize lesbian and gay sex. The pithy quote of then justice minister Pierre Trudeau, "the state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation," is still viewed as the ultimate affirmation of equality.
After being one of the first jurisdictions in the world to permit legal lesbian and gay marriages, government members are being supported in their attacks on those gains.
The Prime Minister was likely hoping the switch be buried in the avalanche of news coverage surrounding Michael Jackson's commemoration. He knew the move was strictly a gesture of appeasement to bigots who just don't get it.
But this is the story that just won't die. This week, the list of dozens of government funding approvals for gay and lesbian events surfaced, including a few from the office of Defence Minister Peter MacKay. And why not?
The world is moving in a new direction of equality regardless of gender, race or sexual orientation. Canada has been a leader in this fight.
The Ablonczy smack-down turns us from leader to laughingstock. It tarnishes our image as a country that embraces diversity. It will cost support for the government.
By any yardstick, there are more than a million gay and lesbian Canadian voters. Some of them are still active members in the Conservative Party.
Like other citizens, lesbians and gays cast their ballots on the broad range of issues. Orientation is not their only issue. Economic, tax and foreign policy matter too.
But to win a majority, the Conservatives actually need to attract progressives back into the fold and last week's move simply turns back the clock.
When former prime minister Joe Clark was active in politics, Maureen McTeer, would personally canvas in a well-known Calgary gay establishment in Harper's own riding. Harper himself has named gay Cabinet ministers to senior positions.
So why the fuss over a popular tourism event in Toronto?
In the post-meltdown world, support within the old reform wing of the Conservative Party is wavering. With looming deficits, social conservatives are being rallied to balance the loss of fiscal malcontents.
In buttressing his wounded right wing, the Prime Minister may succeed in decapitating the centre.
Conservative support in Quebec is at historic lows because of a perception that the party and the province are out of step on most shared values.
Recent advertisements tagging Bloc members as pedophiles have reinforced the notion that Tories and Quebecers are really singing from different hymnbooks. (Or, in many Quebecers' case, no hymnbook at all).
Beating up on gay pride will not be the central issue in the next election campaign. But it does damage the Conservative brand with the majority of Canadians who are quietly proud of the leadership our country has shown on equality rights.
Last week's Ablonczy wounding was just a small cut. But multiple small cuts will finish someone off. Even a government.
Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era Liberal Cabinet minister and former deputy prime minister.
news@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times
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Sometimes a government dies death of a thousand cuts
Beating up on gay pride will not be the central issue in the next election campaign. But it does damage the Conservative brand.
OTTAWA—Sometimes a government just dies the death of a thousand cuts. There is not one big bang that does it in, merely a series of little explosions that ultimately prove fatal.
One such wound was self-inflicted this week. The decision to strip Small Business and Tourism Minister Diane Ablonczy of the $100-million Marquee Events Tourism Funding program seemed at odds with a tourism mandate.
The Prime Minister would have approved the transfer to Industry minister Tony Clement in writing, since he is responsible for machinery of government changes.
Which begs the question. Why create a problem where none exists? The decision had nothing to do with public policy and a lot to do with appeasing disgruntled right-wing caucus colleagues like Saskatchewan Member of Parliament Brad Trost.
Trost boasted on an anti-abortion website that Ablonczy was punished for funding the Toronto Gay Pride Parade.
Toronto Gay Pride Week is a marquee event of its kind in the world, culminating in a parade involving 1.2 million spectators and participants. Colour me naïve, but isn't it the job of a tourism minister to support events that draw tourists to Canada.
The feeble official explanation for the switch was that Clement had time on his hands since the auto crisis was waning.
In the same week that the Supreme Court of India decriminalized consenting homosexual acts, the Canadian government left the rest of world wondering about where we stand on equality rights.
This summer we celebrate the 40th anniversary of a Canadian government decision to decriminalize lesbian and gay sex. The pithy quote of then justice minister Pierre Trudeau, "the state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation," is still viewed as the ultimate affirmation of equality.
After being one of the first jurisdictions in the world to permit legal lesbian and gay marriages, government members are being supported in their attacks on those gains.
The Prime Minister was likely hoping the switch be buried in the avalanche of news coverage surrounding Michael Jackson's commemoration. He knew the move was strictly a gesture of appeasement to bigots who just don't get it.
But this is the story that just won't die. This week, the list of dozens of government funding approvals for gay and lesbian events surfaced, including a few from the office of Defence Minister Peter MacKay. And why not?
The world is moving in a new direction of equality regardless of gender, race or sexual orientation. Canada has been a leader in this fight.
The Ablonczy smack-down turns us from leader to laughingstock. It tarnishes our image as a country that embraces diversity. It will cost support for the government.
By any yardstick, there are more than a million gay and lesbian Canadian voters. Some of them are still active members in the Conservative Party.
Like other citizens, lesbians and gays cast their ballots on the broad range of issues. Orientation is not their only issue. Economic, tax and foreign policy matter too.
But to win a majority, the Conservatives actually need to attract progressives back into the fold and last week's move simply turns back the clock.
When former prime minister Joe Clark was active in politics, Maureen McTeer, would personally canvas in a well-known Calgary gay establishment in Harper's own riding. Harper himself has named gay Cabinet ministers to senior positions.
So why the fuss over a popular tourism event in Toronto?
In the post-meltdown world, support within the old reform wing of the Conservative Party is wavering. With looming deficits, social conservatives are being rallied to balance the loss of fiscal malcontents.
In buttressing his wounded right wing, the Prime Minister may succeed in decapitating the centre.
Conservative support in Quebec is at historic lows because of a perception that the party and the province are out of step on most shared values.
Recent advertisements tagging Bloc members as pedophiles have reinforced the notion that Tories and Quebecers are really singing from different hymnbooks. (Or, in many Quebecers' case, no hymnbook at all).
Beating up on gay pride will not be the central issue in the next election campaign. But it does damage the Conservative brand with the majority of Canadians who are quietly proud of the leadership our country has shown on equality rights.
Last week's Ablonczy wounding was just a small cut. But multiple small cuts will finish someone off. Even a government.
Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era Liberal Cabinet minister and former deputy prime minister.
news@hilltimes.com
The Hill Times
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