It's kind of pathetic when American bloggers have good reason to describe Canada as intolerant. The opening lines from that referenced article:
The Harper government has forbidden its MPs from discussing the first same-sex Mountie marriage, referring all questions on the subject to Stockwell Day.
But Mr. Day, public safety minister and a vocal opponent of same-sex marriage, wouldn’t speak about the upcoming nuptials of two Nova Scotia Mounties, Const. Jason Tree and Const. David Connors.
"The minister won’t have any specific comments on this," Melissa Leclerc, Mr. Day’s communications director, said Wednesday. "That’s their private life. There’s nothing much we can say."
Sure, let's campaign as the law-and-order party, and then personally snub members of the RCMP. Good plan. But I'm betting the fun is just beginning:
Mr. Comartin said Mr. Day likely doesn’t want to comment about this marriage because his party has promised to bring same-sex marriage before the House for another vote, a vote most observers believe is destined to fail.
Oh, man ... I can just see that CPC press conference now:
"I just want to make it perfectly clear that, while we fully respect the current legal situation in Canada with respect to same-sex marriage, and while we have the utmost admiration for the members of our law enforcement agencies, we still believe that these two individuals are abominations that should be stoned to death at the city gates for crimes against God, and may they burn in hell for all eternity. Thank you. No questions."
The entertainment value is almost boundless, isn't it?
AFTERSNARK: It should be obvious that the CPC government is in an awkward position here. They can't really offer any congratulations when they've already made it clear that they would like to see the current SSM law overturned, but it's Stockwell Day's rationale for the no comment that's so entertaining:
"The minister won’t have any specific comments on this," Melissa Leclerc, Mr. Day’s communications director, said Wednesday. "That’s their private life. There’s nothing much we can say."
Really, Doris? One would think that two people deciding to get married is about as private a part of life as something gets, but that's never stopped you or the ignorant, whackjob dingbats in your party from expounding at length on how you'd like to take that right away from some people.
I'm betting that respect for privacy is going to disappear come that open vote.
3 comments:
You should read the comments on that americablog post.
The commenters basically tore John a new one for such a sloppy post.
He originally said (before editing it out without saying anything) the "majority" of us elected harper, which is just plain ignorant. And then he ends with:
"I hope you find being hated around the world as lovely and helpful as we do. But don't worry, you can always just pretend you're American."
I read americablog every day and this post just blew me away in it's ignorance. Hopefully he was just having a bad day.
I think John was comparing our prospects with the toilet flushing the US has taken under Bush and his band of schoolyard homophobes and bullies. He is expressing the disgust that millions of Canadians are experiencing in having the likes of bully Harper and nutcase Day at the button in our own country. I don't think he intended to offend.
Good luck and best wishes to the soon-to-be newlyweds, but I must admit it puts a new spin on the old truism that a mountie always gets his man.
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