By Steve Jalsevac
TORONTO, January 20, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – What to do about St. Paul’s riding Conservative candidate Peter Kent is the question increasingly being asked in social conservative ranks these days.
The very prominent journalist is running against Carolyn Bennett, Paul Martin’s Minster of State for Public Health who is known to life and family advocates as one of abortion’s most vehement activists in Parliament. Trouble is, if he is elected, Kent may well turn out to be far more dangerous to the well-being of the unborn, marriage and family life than Bennett.
The St. Paul’s Tory candidate has joined many other Tories in refusing to answer the Campaign Life Coalition questionnaire on life issues and same-sex ‘marriage’. However, there is plenty of evidence that he is as liberal as they can come on both the abortion and homosexual issues.
As with Belinda Stronach, more than a few Conservative Party supporters are loudly thinking the candidate is a mere opportunist who would fit much better in the Liberal Party.
The situation so concerns some local pro-life activists that they are advocating pro-life, pro-traditional marriage voters hold their noses and strategically vote for Carolyn Bennett just this time. It is suggested that Bennett’s influence will be very limited as an opposition member compared to Kent who is likely, if elected, to wield a lot of influence and be a bad apple in the Conservative Party barrel.
On abortion, the December EYE Magazine, for instance, quotes him stating, “You look back at that and say, ‘God, how can people have ever thought of denying women the choice of privacy over their own bodies?’”
Although he has refused to respond to the Campaign Life Coalition questionnaire, the EGALE homosexual lobby questionnaire got a completely enthusiastic response from Kent. The “Conservative” candidate made it clear heÂsupports the complete homosexual political agenda to abolish traditional marriage and criminalize opposition.
Kent also wrote that he believes homosexual “marriage” to be a “fundamental issue of equality.”ÂHis support of the homosexual movement goes beyond the common position of mere equality. On the CBC last week, Kent spoke of how “gay marriage” represented a new “21st century” conception of rights, of which he expects Canada to be in the vanguard.
In fact, Kent admits to EGALE that he has made a long career, within his journalism career, of advancing the entire gay agenda. He tells EGALE, “As a journalist, I have, over four decades practicing the craft, covered, commented on, and supported justice and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-identified persons”.
Kent told EGALE that he supports amending the Canadian Human Rights Act to include those who suffer from the perception, increasingly disproven by studies,Âthat they were born as the wrong sex – the so-called “transgendered”. He wrote, “This is again a matter of fundamental justice and equality. I commit to vocally defend the rights of all Canadians, including the trans-identified.”
He said that the use of the notwithstanding clause of the Charter is a non-issue since he does not “believe any government—of any political stripe—would overturn this latest, constitutionally-enshrined right.”
Kent is considered the “star Tory candidate” who will plant a Conservative foothold in the Liberal stronghold of central Toronto.
The latest reports show that he is sweeping into his camp the support of prominent and formerly staunch Liberal supporters including St. Paul’s Federal Liberal Riding Association Executive, Steve Posen and David Asper,Âchairman of the National Post newspaper. In a speech on January 12, Kent thanked the many former Liberal and NDP supporters of his campaign.
Asper’s support for the candidate speaks volumes about his giant CanWest media empire’s philosophy. But Kent’s enthusiastic acceptance by the Conservatives as their ‘star’ Toronto candidate also speaks volumesÂabout dramatic changes in the Party from the Reform/Alliance days when voters knew what the party stood for.
Kent, with his name recognition and media savvy, is widely considered to be a shoo-in for a cabinet post in a Conservative government
Read Kent’s answers to the EGALE questionnaire:
https://egale.ca/printer.asp?lang=E&item=249&tab=Q2006&person=2685