
“This enactment amends the Canadian Human Rights Act to add gender identity and gender expression to the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination.
The enactment also amends the Criminal Code to extend the protection against hate propaganda set out in that Act to any section of the public that is distinguished by gender identity or expression and to clearly set out that evidence that an offence was motivated by bias, prejudice or hate based on gender identity or expression constitutes an aggravating circumstance that a court must take into consideration when it imposes a sentence.”
In the Conservative leadership race, Lisa Raitt has exhibited the same type of behaviour. By behaviour, I mean trying to avoid important issues. Her platform for leadership is one of the most vague among all the candidates. Going into April, most Conservative members still have no idea what Lisa Raitt stands for.
Lisa Raitt speaks well, but she has no principles and absolutely no backbone. Unlike Michael Chong, who has a huge backbone, Lisa Raitt chooses to stand for nothing. She fears being wrong. She fears being criticized. But most importantly, she fears losing votes in her riding of Milton. Many of her peers have called her strong, but she isn't. A strong person stands up for what they believe in. If Lisa Raitt really believed in anything, she would have shown up to vote for or against M-103 like Michael Chong. Instead, she chose to avoid the backlash and the consequences.
Lisa Raitt thought she could play to both sides by skipping M-103. She thought she could avoid criticism from both the conservative and progressive wings of the party by simply abstaining and not having an actual vote on record. She was wrong. She isn't fooling anyone. Lisa Raitt has proven that she has no principles. She has proven that her personal ambitions are more important than her party and her conservative supporters.
Sorry Lisa. Saying you oppose a carbon tax and giving the Trudeau government the periodic tongue lashing isn't enough. If Raitt wants to prove she's a conservative or that she's worthy of leading the party, she should start acting like it. I bet conservatives in Milton are glad she still gets a pay cheque this week for not showing up to do her job. Right?
Boot Them
There are ways to deal with fake Tories. As outlined above, they should be either encouraged to cross the floor or be challenged by conservatives in their ridings leading up to 2019. If you live in either Wellington-Halton Hills or Milton, call your constituency office. Call your local presidents and board members. Start a petition. If you know a good (preferably higher profile) conservative, encourage them to step up. When all else has failed, true conservatives can run as independents. For more info on how to become a candidate, see here.
Party politics has a way of taking out the trash, but it starts at the grassroots level. Conservative insiders and the party establishment will resist internal challenges, but we can fight them. If the faux conservatives refuse to step aside, we can give them that much needed shove.