9.25.2008

'like sheep among wolves'

As a gay man, one who has spent 30 years fighting for equality and acceptance, I am more than a little worried with the prospect of a Conservative majority government.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't see a Harper government repealing the rights in the human rights code or using the notwithstanding clause to stop gay marriage. Its the other things he can do in a majority. Imagine you are a little kid and your parents released you in a gigantic toy store. Think of all the toys you could have. All those toys you have been wanting but you had to be good until they trusted you to be good when tempted by all that is for the taking.

That's Stephen Harper. The little kid who has been good enough for 38% of us that our first past the post election system could very well give him the majority Government to play with. A majority that 62% of us voted against.

The Harper government has been bad enough with a minority government, thanks in large part to the Liberals unwillingness to face an election, perhaps I know why now as they look doomed at this point.

"We've got a born-again prime minister," trumpets David Mainse, the founder of Canada's premier Christian talk show, 100 Huntley Street. They see him as an image-savvy evangelical who has been careful to keep his signals to them under the media radar, but they have no doubt his convictions run deep — so deep that only after he wins a majority will he dare translate the true colours of his faith into policies that could remake the fabric of the nation. If they're right, it remains unclear whether those convictions would turn government into a kinder, gentler guarantor of social justice for all or transform the country into a stern, narrow-minded theocracy. And what would his evangelical worldview mean for international relations? - Xtra.ca Stephen Harper and the Theo-cons

Harper has already made big changes that affect our lives, The age of consent law, the firearms registry, Kyoto, Afghanistan, Funding for health care initiatives, HIV/AIDS funding and research, and more. Given a majority government, I think many Canadians will be highly disappointed in Stephen Harper.

If you read nothing else in this election, you need to read Marci McDonald's feature article
'Stephen Harper and the Theo-cons' in Xtra. McDonald gets behind the curtain and looks at the religious right that are silently cheering behind it, for a Harper majority.

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