Harper crowd jeers Press Gallery   
By Romeo St. Martin

[PoliticsWatch posted June 10, 2004]

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OTTAWA —  Supporters of Conservative Leader Stephen Harper heckled and moaned in Brampton, Ontario,  today as Parliamentary Press Gallery reporters repeatedly tried to corner Harper on his position on a variety of moral and social issues. 
  
The key election campaign issues with Ontario voters would appear to be health-care and the tax premium imposed by the provincial Liberal government, but Harper backers in Brampton became frustrated as the reporters pressed on other issues they deemed important, a great percentage of which revolved around gay rights. 

Harper strongly responded to a question about the latest eruption from a Conservative candidate on homosexuals, Frank Luellau, the Conservative candidate for Kitchener-Conestoga, who said in an interview that homosexuality "is not a natural kind of relationship"

"He's been asked to make it abundantly clear that he would respect the decisions and the lifestyles of consenting adults," Harper said. 

"These are not a matter government legislative business and that any member of our party or our government would treat all Canadians equally when it comes to federal jobs or public opportunities and public programs. And any candidate who won't pledge that clearly will be removed as a candidate."

But later, CBC reporter Jennifer Ditchburn was jeered when she prefaced a question this way: "Like your candidate in Kitchener, there are many countries in the world that believe that homosexuality is an abhorrence." 

At this point Harper supporters in the audience shouted at Ditchburn and said that wasn't what Luellau said. 

"That's what he said," she shot back. 

Ditchburn then asked Harper what he thought about "Canada accepting refugees from other countries who have been persecuted for their homosexuality?"

Harper said such persecution would be "legitimate grounds for a refugee application."

Toronto Star reporter Tonda MacCharles got in the mix when she asked Harper to again "clarify exactly your answer to the question about whether you recognize the ability of courts to read into the Charter, using the legal term read-in, interpret the Charter to include sexual orientation under the equality rights guarantee?"

An audible groan was then heard from the crowd. 

"This is very pleasant being heckled at a news conference," she said before Harper answered.

Harper said the court should apply the law as it is written and that gays and lesbians "should enjoy equality and should enjoy reasonable protections under the law that the rest of us enjoy."

MacCharles then asked Harper whether he recognized the court's power to read in rights, like sexual orientation, into the Charter.

"I think that courts should apply the laws that Parliament passes," responded Harper. "The Charter of Rights has been passed by Parliament. And I think, as they say, legal protection should be provided to gay men and lesbians, and at the same time the courts should act within their authority." 

Later, not happy with Harper's response to his earlier question about whether he thought homosexuality was a lifestyle choice, Vancouver Sun reporter Peter O'Neil pressed again with this question:

"This is an old tactic that Ed Broadbent used to use with Brian Mulroney. But can we let the record show that when asked if you believe sexual orientation is a lifestyle choice or a fundamental characteristic that you chose not to answer that question? Or would you choose one or the other?"

Again the audience groaned. 

"That's not part of my election campaign," said Harper. "What consenting adults do is their own business and it's not up to me to comment on it one way or the other. That's not what people want from government officials." 

"Isn't it relevant to the debate?" asked O'Neil.

"I don't think it is," said Harper. "I think what's relevant is the party positions we take on these public policy questions. And I don't think that's a public policy question." 

The reaction from the Harper crowd could be a partisan backlash or it could be part of a growing public malaise with the media. 

For over a week now, the Liberals have used comments by Conservative MPs on abortion and Harper's views on the Charter and using the notwithstanding clause as a wedge issue which has been widely reported on by the media. 

However, polling shows that these issues may be having little effect, as the Conservatives have since moved passed the Liberals and now have a five-point lead in the latest SES Research daily tracking poll. 

The Press Gallery's daily focus on the views of Conservative MPs on these issues and what Harper thinks about them when dozens of Liberal MPs hold similar positions on gay marriage and many are members of the Parliamentary Pro-Life Caucus, has attracted criticism from some of their own. 

"The question is whether the media have unwittingly become a partner in the Liberal strategy by the way they have covered the story," wrote the Globe and Mail columnist Hugh Winsor this week on the abortion issue. 

"All of this posturing has found fertile ground in media that have been waiting for an issue to show that Mr. Harper and the Conservative Party are really still the old Reform Alliance party." 

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