Last June, the corrupt minority Liberal Ontario government was rewarded for their scandals and the waste of billions of taxpayers’ money by being handed a majority. Turning abject failure into a victory was the result of one man—then PC leader Tim Hudak.
Out of the blue, during the first week of the campaign Hudak sprung the fact that if elected he would get rid of 100,000 civil servants. There was no mention of doing this by attrition or buyouts leaving the impression he would simply fire them all. And he appeared to enjoy the prospect.
There is no doubt the bloated civil service is part of the reason for the province’s poor economic showing and high deficits. But because there are too many government employees, they are everywhere. Everyone, including conservatives, have friends, relatives and neighbours who work for the province. They are real people. With this pronouncement, Hudak, as is said so often about this particular party, snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
Two recent events have shown that the PCs are still their own worst enemy. On Monday, Ontario introduced its new sex ed curriculum. The controversial changes include Grade 3 students learning about same sex relationships and gender identity (whether one is a boy or a girl depends on how they feel, not genitalia). Grade 6 students will learn about masturbation while Grade 7 students will be taught about oral and anal sex. Needless to say many parents in the province are outraged; they had no opportunity to provide input into these changes and believe it is the parents’ responsibility to teach these things to their children when they feel it is appropriate for them to learn.
Monte McNaughton, one of the three candidates seeking to replace Hudak, had an exchange with the premier in the legislature. In part, McNaughton said, “it’s not the premier’s job, especially Kathleen Wynne, to tell parents what’s age-appropriate for their children” [Emphasis added].
Wynne is openly gay, the first such Ontario leader. By adding the superfluous words “especially Kathleen Wynne” the Liberals were quick to pounce on McNaughton, referring to his remarks as homophobic. The Liberal-loving mainstream media were quick to join in the criticism.
The MPP was making a valid point but after saying it was not the premier’s job to have a say in what and when Ontarians’ children should be taught, he should have known adding “especially Kathleen Wynne” would give rise to accusations of personally tying her to the curriculum changes.
McNaughton should have known how disappointed the media was after the 2014 election because Wynne’s sexual orientation never became an issue during the campaign and now have an opportunity to label conservatives as anti-gay. Now Wynne herself is saying “some” who oppose her new program do so because they are homophobic.
And then there is PC MPP Rick Nicholls. During the exchange in the legislature concerning the sex education curriculum, Education Minister Liz Sandals told McNaughton perhaps evolution should not be taught in schools. Nicholls was heckling and yelled maybe it shouldn’t be. The next day Nicholls said he does personally does not believe in evolution. The Tories, as they are often required to do, had to distance themselves from Nicholls’ belief.
It is believed the Liberals introduced their new curriculum when they did to take the heat off of another scandal. The Ontario Provincial Police are investigating whether two Liberal staffers broke the law after it was alleged they tried to bribe a potential candidate for the nomination in the recent Sudbury by-election by offering him a job to drop his candidacy. The comments by McNaughton and Nicholls have provided a further distraction from the scandal and the sex curriculum changes.
The PC Party of Mike Harris and the Common Sense Revolution is now the party of John Tory, Tim Hudak and the not-yet-ready-for-prime-time players. It seems they have no understanding of the media that will do its best to ignore the Liberal scandals and possible crimes and yet pounce on every word in order to discredit the PCs. They cannot expect to get away with saying things that would be ignored if said by a leftist politician.
McNaughton saying “especially Kathleen Wynne” while making a perfectly valid point about how parents should decide when their children learn certain things, allowed the premier to play the gay card. Much as Barack Obama and his supporters successfully employed the race card, saying any criticism of the president is founded in racism, Wynne’s painting her critics as homophobic will play well with her base and the media. And now the PCs have to defend themselves from the accusation they are nothing more than a bunch of knuckle-dragging Neanderthals. They are their own worst enemies.
There is no doubt if an election were held tomorrow, Wynne would win another majority. Scandals and controversial policies mean nothing.
