Devout Liberal MPs ask Martin to condemn party tactics on religion

Canadian Press

(Ottawa) Devout Liberal MPs are appalled by their party's attempt to
demonize the Conservatives as a bunch of extreme religious zealots and are
urging Prime Minister Paul Martin to repudiate the inappropriate and
hypocritical election tactic, The Canadian Press has learned.

For Toronto MP John McKay, the tactic is antithetical to everything I
believe as a Liberal.

Either we think that we have an inclusive notion of pluralism in this
country where we accept people based upon their religion or we are
hypocrites, he said in an interview. I just think it has no place in
Canadian politics and, in addition to being offensive ideologically, it is
just plain stupid politics.

Mr. McKay is one of a number of devout Liberal MPs who were horrified to
discover their party last month commissioned a pre-election poll asking
Ontarians if they'd be more or less likely to vote for the Conservatives if
they knew the party had been taken over by evangelical Christians.

Mr. McKay, who is a member of an evangelical church, estimated that between
10 and 20 per cent of his fellow Liberal MPs share evangelical sympathies.
Among those with strong religious beliefs is Mr. Martin himself, a devout
Catholic who makes a point of attending church every Sunday, even when he
is travelling.

Steven MacKinnon, the Liberals' deputy national director, has defended the
polling question, insisting Liberals are not attacking the religious
beliefs of Conservatives or their leader, Stephen Harper. Rather, he
maintains the Liberals are trying to expose the Conservatives' social
conservatism and their predilection for blurring the lines between church
and state.

Mr. Harper, however, has accused the Liberals of religious bigotry and
contends the question is a push poll, intended to plant the impression in
respondents' minds that the Conservative party is full of scary extremists.

Toronto Liberal MP Paul Szabo agrees.

The question isn't appropriate . . . It's a leading question of sorts and
it's judgmental about a whole group of people, he said in an interview.
It's very narrow and it's derogatory. It's crossing a line and it's not
necessary.

Moreover, Mr. Szabo said it's offensive to the many Liberals such as
himself who are people of faith and who share evangelical Christians'
socially conservative views on moral issues such as abortion and same-sex
marriage.

This is not the first time the Liberals have used religion as a campaign
cudgel. During the 2000 election, the party poked fun at the fundamentalist
Christian beliefs of Stockwell Day, then leader of the Canadian Alliance
which has now joined with the Progressive Conservatives to form the new
Conservative party.

Mr. McKay said the tactic caused him a few awkward moments . . . where I
had to explain why my party, the party of inclusion and tolerance and
acceptance and equality, was doing (that).

To some degree, Mr. Day invited scrutiny by openly declaring his religious
beliefs and courting those who shared them. But Mr. McKay said Mr. Harper
has not played that card and, hence, the Liberals risk a much bigger
backlash this time if they try to make an issue of his religion.

Jim Karygiannis, another Toronto Liberal and a self-described pro-life
member of the Greek Orthodox church, said any Canadian citizen is entitled
to run for Parliament, regardless of religious affiliation. He said
implying that evangelical Christians make bad politicians is akin to saying
someone like Monia Mazigh, a Muslim NDP candidate, shouldn't run because
she wears a hijab. 

Dennis Mills, the Toronto Liberal MP who organized the Pope's visit to the
Ontario capital two years ago, said he doesn't understand why the party
commissioned the poll.

Just because a person has strong faith doesn't make him or her a scary
person, he said, predicting that Mr. Martin will put a stop to the tactic
because he's a man of faith himself.

Socially conservative Liberals have gained influence since Mr. Martin took
over the party from Jean Chrtien. Several, such as Albina Guarnieri and Joe
Volpe, have been promoted from the backbench into cabinet while others,
including McKay, Karygiannis and Dan McTeague, have been named
parliamentary secretaries.

Mr. McKay said evangelical Christians account for 10 to 12 per cent of the
Canadian population but have historically never voted as a block for any
particular party. The one way to turn them into a voting block, he
maintained, is by attacking a leader based upon his or her religion.

Those are no-go zones and if the big brains in pollster politics . . .
haven't figured that out then I've got to question whether they've got any
brains at all, he said.

Mr. Szabo said a number of devout Liberal MPs have aired their concerns
with the right people in the party and have been assured the targetting of
Conservatives on religious grounds will go no further.

Mr. McKay said he too has received assurances but added: I'll just have to
see whether those assurances are worth anything.



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