Friday, April 04, 2008

A need for change

Following up on last night's post, I'll take a moment to respond to the commentators who seem eager to assume that Tom Lukiwski's views have changed in the past 17 years, such that his comments can't be held against him now.

Again, the problem is precisely the Harper strategy of gagging his MPs rather than allowing them to actually express their personal views in public. It might well be that Lukiwski's stance has changed in the meantime, and I'd be interested to see if there is a public record to that effect. But it's difficult to assume that Lukiwski actually has changed his mind without some evidence a bit less self-serving than anything he could say now. And it's the Cons' fear of having its MPs say something politically damaging that's made it impossible for their members to discuss gender and sexuality issues even where their views might have progressed with time.

Of course, the flip side is that a strategy of muzzling what candidates actually think also makes it plausible that bigotry can survive and indeed thrive, as long as its purveyors keep it out of the public eye. And based on the Cons' response to Lukiwski's comments (trying to claim the matter is "closed"), there's precious little reason to give the party the benefit of any doubt now.

Update: If we needed more reason to be skeptical about any supposed change, Lukiwski's comments on same-sex marriage provide just that.

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