July 18, 2000
Kamloops Daily News


You seldom hear Canadians call politicians "scary".  But
that's the description that many are giving to Stockwell
Day.  "Boring, irrelevant, out-of-touch", are more common
labels.  So, what is it about this new leader that provokes
such a response?

Stockwell Day embraces social and fiscal conservatism. 
Fiscal conservatism is nothing new in Canadian politics.
Most parties think it's a good idea to give tax breaks to
the rich under the pretense of giving tax breaks to all;
reduce welfare and unemployment insurance to drive people
into poverty and homelessness; blame the poor and homeless
for circumstances beyond their control.

Social conservatism is a different matter.  Social
conservatism is a blend of  politics and fundamentalist
religion that we normally see south of the border. Canadians
are not used to pushy, slick preachers who promote
self-righteous recipes for how others should live.  We get
nervous when politicians promote their personal biases as
solutions to society's  problems.  When Stockwell Day
preaches  anti-gay and anti-abortion sermons, those opinions
gain political momentum.  His views spread from the realm of
personal belief to social imperative.

If we are told that homosexuality is an abomination unto the
Lord, for example, then  impressionable zealots and thugs
have a license to cruise streets, looking for fags to harass
and beat up.  If we are told that abortionists are
murderers, then some group on the lunatic fringe is going to
take up the cause and serve crude justice by snuffing out
the murderers.  Words can hurt you.

Inflammatory rhetoric takes on a life of its own, regardless
of how well-intentioned the source of that rhetoric is. 
Take the recent stabbing of abortion provider Dr. Garson
Romalis in Vancouver, for example.  A radical anti-abortion
group, Babies Liberation Army, has taken credit for the
assault.  They are not prepared to give up -- they told
Romalis to "watch his back".

They, or a similar misguided group, are following up on a
sniper attack on Dr. Romalis in 1994.  The circumstances of
that assault was similar to other deadly attacks on abortion
providers in North America.  These attacks are not the act
of rational people who think that killing of babies is wrong
-- it's the result of dogma run amuck.

Stockwell Day is no neo-Nazi but there are remarkable
similarities between him and the leader of the Austrian
Freedom party, Jeorg Haider.  Both are youthful looking
(despite being middle-aged), athletic, and articulate. The
Alliance and Freedom parties attract approximately the same
percentage of the popular vote.  Both are leaders of
right-wing parties who are trying to gain power by forming a
coalition with conservative parties.

Haider's extremist right-wing Freedom party was invited to
share a coalition government with Austria's Conservative
party.  The proposal generated an international storm
because of Haider's talent in breeding intolerance.  He
condemned immigration and praised the policies of Adolf
Hitler.

Immigrants were suddenly to blame for Austria's problems. 
The idea of closing boarders was no longer such a bad idea. 
What was once intolerant had moved into the realm of
respectability. Hitler's "orderly employment practices"
started to make a lot of sense.   Haider became very scary
to neighbouring Europeans who recalled the nightmares of
earlier Nazi exterminations. 

Under threat of trade sanctions against Austria, the
Conservatives rethought the coalition, and the Freedom party
was cut from political power.     Canadians are nervous at
the prospect of a right-wing fundamentalist leader.  If
supposedly "middle-of-the-road" parties, like the Liberals,
dispatch the poor and homeless with such haste, who would be
the next targets of a right-wing party?

With a right-wing government in power, a many Canadians
would be looking over their shoulders for attacks from goon
squads who don't like the fact that they are gay, immigrant, 
pro-choice, feminist, activist, squeegee-kid, tree-hugging
radical, or anyone else who doesn't conform to the moral
minority's view of upright and proper citizens.  

The wedding of Day's social beliefs and fiscal conservatism
is a marriage made in hell. Intolerance already festers on
the surface of Canadian society, ready for opportunistic
infection -- it doesn't need to be cultivated by political
leaders. 

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