New Ontario PC Leader Patrick Brown to march in Toronto’s Pride parade, a party first

[mentalfloss]

Walter am cry.

New Ontario PC Leader Patrick Brown to march in Toronto’s Pride parade, a party first

Patrick Brown, the new leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives, checks out his new stomping grounds at Queen's Park in Toronto on Sunday, May 10, 2015. Matthew Sherwood for National Post

Patrick Brown said he would bring a softer side to the Ontario PC party when he took its reins in May, and now he will put his feet where his mouth is.

Ontario Progressive Conservative party leader Patrick Brown and his sister react to the news he won the leadership of Ontario's Progressive Conservative Party on May 9. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

Brown announced Friday he will march in Sunday’s pride parade in Toronto, an annual celebration of LGBT rights. Some MPPs, including Lisa MacLeod and Jack Maclaren, will join him. It will mark the first time a PC leader has lead an official delegation of the party in the annual celebration of LGBT rights and progress.

“We are building a new Ontario PC Party – one that celebrates diversity in all its forms and that includes Ontarians from every corner of the province, in every community and on every block,” Brown wrote in a statement.

The LGBTory caucus will also march and welcomed Brown’s support.

“It will be great to have the Ontario PC Leader Patrick Brown leading the march of Conservatives in support of Toronto’s diverse LGBT community as we celebrate and work to grow support for PCs and Conservatives in the heart of downtown Toronto,” said spokesperson Jamie Ellerton.

Brown’s announcement comes after he danced with social conservatism to win the party leadership. He has repeatedly called for a review of Ontario’s new sex ed curriculum, which discusses LGBT marriage and how there are more than two genders. But he’s also been careful in his speech not to echo the overt homophobia that underlies much of the sex-ed opposition.

He promised to rebuild Ontario’s once-centrist PC party, which has swung to the right in recent years. It was under Tory premier Ernie Eves that the province first allowed gay marriages in 2002, after all.

http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/bl...-march-in-torontos-pride-parade-a-party-first

 

[CDNBear]

Walter am cry.

I love it when you prove me right, lol.

 

[mentalfloss]

I think it's great.

Might actually consider voting PC for the first time in my life.

 

[CDNBear]

I think it's great.

It should be irrelevant. But I'm not a partisan hack, so, you know, I got that going for me.

Might actually consider voting PC for the first time in my life.

No doubt. One thing that can be gleaned from the commentary you've posted here over the years is, a complete lack of critical thought or substance.

 

[SLM]

It should be irrelevant. But I'm not a partisan hack, so, you know, I got that going for me.

Couldn't resist.

Okay, carry on........

 

[CDNBear]

Couldn't resist.

Okay, carry on........

I even had that look on my face when I typed it.

 

[tay]

I think it's great.

Might actually consider voting PC for the first time in my life.

Please; no more single issue voters..........

 

[CDNBear]

Please; no more single issue voters..........

Sometimes that's all partisan hacks can muster.

 

[mentalfloss]

Please; no more single issue voters..........

I did say 'might' and 'consider'.

It's still an extremely low probability at this point and obviously not the only reason to vote for a party.


I mean let's be honest here, curmudgeons are starting to die off so these parties (just like Christianity) need to.. evolve... to stay relevant.

If they change enough, they might actually become a viable platform.

With every curmudgeon heart attack, the world gets a little bit better.

 

[CDNBear]

I did say 'might' and 'consider'.

It's still an extremely low probability at this point and obviously not the only reason to vote for a party.


I mean let's be honest here, curmudgeons are starting to die off so these parties (just like Christianity) need to.. evolve... to stay relevant.

If they change enough, they might actually become a viable platform.

With every curmudgeon heart attack, the world gets a little bit better.

What makes me laugh is, you think you're better than everyone else. Despite your ignorant and deplorable commentary.

 

[mentalfloss]

Long-time social conservative MPs bid a bittersweet farewell to Ottawa
ipolitics.ca

Of the more than 30 Conservative MPs retiring from politics this summer, a notable number of them are staunch social Conservatives who have been in Ottawa for several terms and who feel frustrated that they weren’t able to implement the Reform Party’s core social agenda.

Maurice Vellacott, Saskatchewan MP and former Reform member, vented that frustration in an interview with iPolitics, saying that despite lack of movement on abortion law and the legalization of gay marriage, “People have tried to shutdown the conversation on these social conservative issues. But they ain’t going away anytime soon.”

A little more than two decades ago, more than 50 MPs representing the Reform Party arrived in Ottawa, led by Preston Manning with a mission to change the way Ottawa does business, challenge what they saw as MPs’ fat pensions and more importantly, advocate for a more social conservative agenda, with gay marriage and abortion on top of the list.

Saskatchewan MP Garry Breitkreuz, who first assumed office in 1993 as a Reform party MP, said, “There is a degree of frustration on my part as I go back home because I was hoping that we could accomplish more here.”

During his time in Ottawa, Breitkreuz worked hard on issues related to abortion and euthanasia and believes he has brought forward pieces of legislation pertaining to those issues more than any other MP in the life of the Canadian parliament.

“On the life issues, I think the courts have overruled parliament in some cases. This came to the fore when they struck down the abortion issue decades ago and parliament has not been able to fill the void that they left.”

Vellacott says that though he is leaving with a clear conscience — having remained true to his personal beliefs all these years — it hasn’t always been easy to advocate for issues important to him and his constituency.

“There’s people who have strong views,” notes Vellacott, “and the name of the game in that case is to try to shame somebody and say oh you’re a relic, you’re a whatever, to try to shutdown the conversation.”

British Columbia MP James Lunney, a former Canadian Alliance MP and later Conservative who now sits as an independent says that the decision to leave now for him and some of his fellow social conservatives is motivated by the fact that “politics has become such an unsavoury thing to do”.

Lunney says it was particularly regrettable that the media repeatedly tried to attack and shame him or other social conservatives over matters of their faith. “It’s totally out of sinc with Canada, which is why I protested as I did.”

Lunney, who says the media often attacked him because of his anti-evolution beliefs, decided to leave the Conservative caucus last March, citing his stand on freedom of religion.

“I don’t regret my decision, although I found it challenging to be separate from my colleagues and there are some misunderstandings as some Conservatives wouldn’t let me speak. No party wants to be caught up in controversy.”

Breitkreuz agrees that he and fellow social conservative MPs are aware that some viewed them as pushed into the backgrounds of the Conservative party because of their unpopular beliefs. But he says that they also felt a great deal of respect on the Hill. And that is a good thing, adds Breitkreuz, with a smile.

“There are many who oppose us very strongly and what we are trying to do and label us as being on the fringe. And I think that is unfortunate because we do reflect the views of many, many Canadians.”

Vellacott, Breitkreuz and Lunney maintain that they felt free to voice their opinions — and to vote their conscience — while part of the Conservative caucus.
“You have to be very very careful as to how you bring these issues forward, but I didn’t ever feel that we were muzzled in caucus. I think that we were free to express of our views,” says Breitkreuz.

Vellacott however didn’t mince his words in criticizing parliament — and the Conservative caucus in particular — about its reaction to the bill criminalizing sex selection and gendercide, introduced in the House by fellow social conservative MP Mark Warawa in November of 2014.

“I don’t know what all went on, but in turning that aside so it was not votable, and some of the rougher tactics that may have been used, I think that was shameful and cowardly were the words that you could insert into the story if you choose. I just think it was quite gutless to run from that issue instead of face up to it and come across unanimously. It would have been a great day for the House to say yes we do condemn the barbaric horrific practice of girls being –you know, because they are a girl.”

Social conservative MPs say they are proud of having been instrumental in helping the Conservative party get the majority it has enjoyed over the last four years. But they won’t say why — or how they feel — about the fact that, with the notable exception of Minister Jason Kenney, few of the social conservative MPs were offered cabinet positions.

The MPs we spoke with will be busy wrapping up their office work in Ottawa this week — and selling their houses, in the case of Vellacott. But as Breitkreuz says, it may be too early to declare the demise of social conservatism in Canadian federal politics with their departure. “Something very interesting has happened, we have had young, new MPs who have been raised up, that are almost putting me to shame by their social conservatism, and so I think we still have a very strong voice within caucus.”

Notwithstanding their absence from the cabinet table, Vellacott says the wave of veteran Reform MPs left their mark.

“Do I think the impact and the effect of the reformers on a number of the things in respect to Senate and respect to fiscal and respect to a whole range of issues, did they win their way on everything? No, I don’t think so but I think the influence of the West and the reformers will reverberate for a very long time.”

Long-time social conservative MPs bid a bittersweet farewell to Ottawa

 

[tay]

Long-time social conservative MPs bid a bittersweet farewell to Ottawa

Long-time social conservative MPs bid a bittersweet farewell to Ottawa

They are all doing internal polling and the winds of change are strong..........

 

[mentalfloss]

You know it.