gingnut

Incase you don't follow the national news Conservative MP Tom Lukiwski was caught insulting homosexuals on a tap from the early 90s. Some say he should resign. I am a little more forgiving considering how long ago that tape was made. After all many people thought along the lines back then and have since changed there minds. On the same tape the premier of Sk did this bad imitation of what is being described as a rural Ukrainian.....What a great day for Saskatchewan politics, makes me so proud to be from the province..

AlvicBC

Well I think the whole thingis ridiculous it was a long time ago when neither of them were in any great political power and in those days people were not as open minded and accepting as they are now.

And both men have apologised and seem to be genuinely contrite.

What politician doesnt have skeletons in their closet and some from not as long ago as the early 90's.

windward

What are the laws in Canada re: homophobic comments?

There's a crime called 'incitement to homophobic hatred' I think here now, but it's not the easiest thing to enforce, and what about free speech?

Personally I don't think someone in public office should be allowed to get away with saying something like that, but I guess if people in SK don't like it they won't vote for him next time round.

Almost Canadian

I think the first two posters are remarkably forgiving.

I don't care how long ago the statement was made, it was made and will not doubt offend some of those he represents. He should go.

Whatever happened to policiticians' accountability ? I am thinking about Profumo etc - all he did was sleep with a prostitute

edsask

He's apologised, and since his party's not interested in pursuing the matter, there's not a lot anyone can formally do to force him to step down. It would be nice if gay/bi voters in his riding wrote to him, asking him why he deserves their vote after all this. If he's got any nouse about him, he'll step down at the next election, because the Libs and NDP have just been handed a massive stick with which to beat him. Ironically, Lukiwski was the replacement for another MP with even more outrageous views than him.

AlvicBC

The man who never made a mistake - never made anything.

Don't we all say offensive things now and again?

Almost Canadian

We do but there is a huge difference between a mistake (implying inadvertance) and stating something (deliberately) that some people that you now represent are offended by.

Just like you wouldn't want a Dr. that was treating you, say, for a smokers' ailment to state openly to you "you deserve all you get" or a lawyer stating to an accused that "I hope you are convicted you filthy rapist". It's called professionalism which, unfortunately, is somewhat lacking in politicians these days.

I am not critising him for having those views and I feel that society has become so immune to incidents like this, that it fails to care about the consequences once a more exciting headline is printed.

I am sure that politicians were just as sleazy in Profumo's day but, when they were caught out, they fell on their swords and moved on. Not so the current bunch, why not ?

Put another way, how would you justify him not resigning to a group of people that had been offended by his statement ?

Purley

I think we should have a poll on the board to find out those perfect people who 17 years ago went to a party and did not have one drink, did not make stupid remarks, did not make remarks in bad taste. Then we will see how many there are!!

I for one would not qualify. I am sorry that I have to admit that at plenty of private parties I had more than one drink and I did many things that were far, far more stupid! Only don't expect me to elaborate!!

From my viewing of the video it seemed to me that Tom L was making a rather feeble attempt at humour; so was Brad Wall. The fact that they are not good comedians is the only complaint I have. And how come Saturday Night Live and Air Farce and all those shows are allowed to make rude comments about politicians?

For one thing Pat Atkinson has always made my skin crawl. And you can publish that in the Globe and Mail if you wish!!

What a load of friggin bullshit. Who cares? It wasn't like they said it in public. It was at a private party. So what the heck is private any more? It is even worse now. You never know when some halfwit will use a tiny phone camera secretly film you doing something!!

These people were not in public office at the time. The NDP should get a life and concentrate on something that really matters! In the big scheme of the world I cannot imagine that something that two private individuals did at a private party 17 years ago is all that darn important!

Oakvillian

I'm afraid I'd probably tell the "offendees" to grow up and move on. The video is over a decade and a half old. People's views change - one hopes for the better with the benefit of maturity - over that timescale. He's apologised for his remarks, and seems to have made a significant effort to placate those who may have taken offence.

If his constituents are offended, they can always vote him out of office next time round. However, if his political opponents use this as a stick to beat him, as Edsask suggests they might, I actually think they might find the tactic backfiring badly. I can't help thinking this is a bit of an "Ottawa Village" story that nobody outside of the immediate circle of politicos and their party machines is remotely interested in.

Shame on the people who decided to feed this story to the press in the first place - it's making political capital out of something that really oughtn't to have seen the light of day.

Almost Canadian

I have to admit I haven't seen or heard it but, there has been so much comment about it in the papers here, I assumed they had something truly awful.

Lorna_D

I agree totally

AlvicBC

[QUOTE=Almost Canadian;6160209]We do Surely this point of yours says it all - he didn't represent anyone at the time he said it. LizWil puts it ever so much better than me.

mandymoochops

Liz I absolutely hear what you're saying however I think has been said earlier its all to do with proffesionalism, and being aware of the implications of the spoken word in relation to the position you hold - or aspire to hold.

So whilst it is absolutely abhorrent that there seems to be no right to "free speech" anymore, you have to be aware that if you want a certain career there are going to be certain things you can or can't do throughout your life in the lead up to it.

Thorstien

I'm more worried that people are not treating homosexuals as mental disease patients. homosexuality is a mental disease, like schizophrenia, necrophilia, pedophilisim, bestiality...etc. just because a mental disease is popular dosn't make it okay. broken homes and dysfunctional families have become so common that they are now the norm, so that makes it ok? homosexuals should not be treated with hate and bigitroy, but rather with psycotherapy medications and life counciling. What is really frighting is that there are already unbalanced and mentaly ill people in our government that are making decisions for the whole country. Now that the homosexual rights movement has ruined the sanctity of marrige and a proper family structure, it will be a challange to restore this country to a functional family. Although I give them to much credit, if the doctors and religious leaders had taken more agressive actions in the past, we would not have such a homosexual epidemic.

bazzz

Ah, the voice of reason.

We could just burn them, y'know. That worked with the witches.