A couple of Connie contenders there have been muzzled by their national party over the issue of equal marriage.
**"We'’ve been told by Ottawa that we don'’t talk about that," Paula Henderson told The Chronicle Herald on Thursday. "That'’s a dropped subject."
Ms. Henderson is a campaign volunteer for Rakesh Khosla, the Tory running against Fisheries Minister Geoff Regan in Halifax West.
Paul Francis, the Conservative candidate for Sackville-Eastern Shore, also attended the meeting and he too refused to comment.
"We'’re actually referring all inquiries on that meeting to (Tory spokesman) Rob Batherson," said Jeff Alexander, communications director for Mr. Francis.**
Before this all blew up as an election issue, St. John's East Connie candidate Norm Doyle was free to chime right in and back his leader's plans to turn back the clock in Canada. He openly spoke for his social conservative (socon) agenda, an agenda that according to some reports is causing him to bleed support among younger Progressive Conservatives.
When the legislation was being debated in the Commons, Doyle said:
"[Equal marriage] is a step in the wrong direction for our society."
"At the height of this debate, a column in The National Post by Barbara Kay recently caught my eye. The headline on the column reads, "“It's time to think about the children"”. Ms. Kay made this point:
Canadian researchers have made no effort to harvest the views of those who have the most invested in the gay marriage debate--children. Nobody has asked children if they "“strongly prefer, strongly reject or don't care"” whether they have: a single mom, single dad, mother and father, two moms or two dads.
She says that children are, by nature, "“social conservatives"” and will by nature respond that they prefer a mom and a dad. She concludes by saying:
Canada is one of only three places on Earth poised to endorse the use of children as social guinea pigs without their consent. And all because our intellectual and political elites "“haven't ever really thought about it."”
Ms. Kay makes a good and valid point. Researchers or government, nobody knows what the outcome of this reckless piece of social engineering will lead to.** [Emphasis added]
Yep.
Doyle thinks equal marriage is a "reckless piece of social engineering."
Loyola Hearn didn't say much during the debate on this crucial issue, but he voted the socon party line nonetheless.
I wonder if a reporter stuck a microphone in either of these guys' faces, what would the reply be?
Hmmmm.