[LINK] "On Tim Hudak's Very Disappointing Performance"

[rfmcdonald]

As with me, for James Bow Hudak's sloppy endorsement of homophobia was it.

I decided to stay out of this campaign, even as I watched in amazement as Conservative leader Tim Hudak squandered a twenty-point lead to bring this race to at least neck-and-neck. Other bloggers were saying what was needed to be said about things like Hudak’s characterization of decent Ontario citizens as “foreign workers”, or Horvath’s willingness to stand by her hilariously incomprehensible candidate in Niagara.

But then the Hudak campaign went decidedly negative. Not that this should be a surprise in an election this close, and not that it should suggest that the Liberals or New Democrats have their hands clean. But this pamphlet, introduced with the official blessing of the Conservative Party for its use in Brampton area ridings, was something I simply could not ignore. In it, the Conservatives suggest that the McGuinty Liberals have “a hidden agenda” to sexualize the education of children as young as six, with references to “cross-dressing” and “celebrat(ing) sexual diversity (with a) kissing booth”.

A lot of things get said in an election. A lot of inaccurate things. A politician’s character gets impugned, and the opponents’ policies are predicted to bring economic ruin and the death of kittens. But I cannot stand idly by with this flyer in the campaign. My daughter turns six this November. She is currently in grade one. I have paid attention to her education, been in touch with her teachers, and just this afternoon had a pleasant and productive conversation with my daughter’s school principle over concerns I had over the school’s fundraising.

In short, I have a fairly clear picture of what’s going on, and I know that what this flyer is claiming is being done to our children’s education is inaccurate. Worse, it’s misleading. It is a deliberate attempt to manipulate me and my vote by wrongly suggesting that my children are in danger. That’s ugly.

Ivor Torsell does a thorough point-by-point fact check on the offending pamphlet in the Toronto Standard. And it irks me beyond belief that Hudak sidesteps the inaccuracies in this flyer by raising a further spectre, hyperventilating about the possibility (considered and then dropped) of teaching sexual education to our children as early as grade one. Never mind that this isn’t currently planned under the Liberal government. Never mind the fact that we’re just talking about describing the body parts in the correct way. Never mind the studies which suggest that this is of benefit to our children in dealing with the overly sexualized images they get in the media these days. Never mind that we’ve already given frank answers about where babies come from to our eldest daughter when she asks. What does Hudak propose instead? Ignoring the issue does not make it go away.

The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario should be ashamed of itself, to have stooped to such misleading levels with this pamphlet, and to have engaged in such blatant fear mongering throughout this campaign, using our children for their political gain. Their attacks have had no basis in fact, have demonized decent people, and really do not paint an accurate picture of how education is being conducted in this province at this time.

Ultimately, it shows that their policies, especially with respect to education, cannot stand on their own merits. Why else would they choose to lie?