Diane Ablonczy on Maher Arar and "his terrorist links"

Diane Ablonczy today was named by Stephen Harper as the new junior foreign affairs minister. Here's what Ablonczy was saying back in 2002 when she was the opposition critic, on what was a major foreign affairs issue of the day: the case of Maher Arar, who was facing torture in Syria at the time as the government fought to have him repatriated:

Mr. Speaker, it is time the Liberals told the truth: that their system of screening and security checks is pathetic. Arar was given dual Syrian and Canadian citizenship by the government. It did not pick up on his terrorist links and the U.S. had to clue it in.

How is it that the U.S. could uncover this man's background so quickly when the government's screening system failed to find his al-Qaeda links?
..
Mr. Speaker, the government needs to take responsibility for what it is doing to protect Canadian security. The fact is that these Liberals were asleep at the switch. Arar was not properly checked. Instead, the government ran around chastising the U.S. for sending Arar back to Syria, where he is also a citizen. Why is it that the Liberal security system is so weak here that they overlook vital information that the U.S. picked up on a routine check?

Arar would later be brought back to Canada and, after being cleared of any wrongdoing by a public commission, would reach an out of court settlement with the federal government for $10.5 million.

Anyway, I'm sure Diane will do a great job.

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Will the Harper Conservatives fund a global pride event?

You'll recall there was quite the brouhaha back in July when Conservative minister Diane Ablonczy approved nearly $400,000 in funding from the Marquee Tourism Events Program for Toronto's Pride Parade, and had the temerity to have her photo taken with drag queens.

There was quite the blowback from the nutter, socially-Conservative wing of the party, including the always entertaining Charles McVety and a backbencher not heard from before or since, Brad Trost.

The Conservatives went so far as to remove responsibility for the program from Ablonczy and give it to Tony Clement, while maintaining with a wink it had nothing to do with the pride funding, because it's not like there's anything wrong with that. And when Clement later denied a Montreal parade it was totally nothing to do with that at all.

Well, the issue may be coming back. For in 2014, the Toronto Pride organizers want to go global, and they'll need federal help to do it:

Yesterday, Pride Toronto announced its bid to host World Pride in 2014.

Toronto's Pride Week is already one of the biggest such events worldwide, but in 2014 organizers would like to "kick it up a few notches," said Mark Singh, chair of the bid committee and current co-chair of Pride Toronto.

"Basically, we're just making our event, which is already such a globally popular event, into something a lot bigger and on the world's stage."

Toronto's pitch will be made at October's InterPride annual general meeting in St. Petersburg, Fla. Singh said he believes Stockholm is the only competition.

The event would fall during the regular Pride week in 2014 but would be substantially bigger and more expensive, costing an estimated $10 million rather than the $4 million spent this year.

The Marquee program is supposed to be all about generating economic impact, and a global pride event will certaintly qualify:

The economic payoff could be big. Toronto's three-day gay and lesbian festival in June attracted 1.3 million people, and organizers say it generated $100 million in business. World Pride would include a human rights conference and opening ceremonies at a large venue, such as the Rogers Centre, possibly with an Olympics-style flag parade.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has already submitted a letter of support for the Toronto bid.

So, what say you Tony Clement and Stephen Harper? Can Toronto Pride count on your support?

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Not discriminating takes guts in the Conservative caucus?

Conservative Senator Nancy Ruth seems ready to submit Diane Ablonczy's name to Stockholm for Nobel consideration:

"I give Ablonczy 100 per cent credit for choosing not politically to discriminate against something Pride Toronto had a legitimate reason to apply for and met all the criteria," Ruth said in an interview Thursday.

"It takes guts not to discriminate when you know there is a faction within your party who isn't going to like it. That takes guts and courage and I admire that."

Now don't get me wrong, I support Ablonczy on this. But when NOT choosing to discriminate against an event that will pump millions of dollars into the economy takes GUTS and COURAGE because it might offend some nutbars, then I think that speaks to some rather serious problems with this Conservative government, doesn't it?

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The Conservative gay sponsorship scandal

First off, props to Dalton McGuinty:

"I can't speak for my colleagues in Ottawa, whatever their political stripe, but I can say that we take pride in investing in Pride," Premier Dalton McGuinty told reporters in Windsor.

"It's one of the single largest tourism draws to benefit our province, it generates millions and millions of dollars, it awakens more and more of the world to the fact that we have a tolerant, accepting society here in Ontario and here in Canada," McGuinty said yesterday.

Now, back to Ottawa. The Conservatives really seem to want to have their gay cake on this, just as long as no one sees them eating it.

I can understand how different segments of the Conservative Party might have different views on this thing.

*The small government Cons say government funding for any parade or festival is crazy, although I doubt they'd get to aggrieved over, say Stampede funding.

*The more business-savvy Cons say the tourism marketing program pays for itself in taxes spent by tourists attracted, and gay dollars and hetero dollars spend just the same.

*And the so-Cons say eww, scantily clad gays, get away before you threaten my marriage.

Personally, I think the government's policy on this is right. Funding tourist events like this makes good sense by getting both tax payback and economic spinoffs. And you can't run a program like this on ideology, so they're right to be funding gay pride parades across the country as well as stampedes in Calgary and what not. Fund all (with sound business plans, of course) or fund none is the right approach.

If the Harper government could have just left it at that, and defended that policy "we don't screen events based on ideology, but on business fundamentals and economic impact" then I'd have said bravo. But as I said, they want to have their gay cake but not be seen eating it too.

That's because they still insist on pandering to the so-Cons in their tent, like MP Brad Trost. By leaving his comments on the program and his characterization of the view of the PMO and the Conservative caucus unchallenged, the government lends them credence. And if moving Diane Ablonczy from the file really was jsut coincidence, by saying nothing they just make the conspiracy theory all the more plausible.

And in the end, by trying to play both sides, all they're going do is piss off them both while getting credit from neither. The goodwill from the gay community for funding all these parades evaporates when you let Trost go unchallenged and let it seem Ablonczy was canned for a photo-op with drag queens. And the so-Cons won't be satisfied with a backbencher mouthoff when you're still funding pride parades accross the country.

These guys need to pick a side and defend it. Either back-up Trost or shut him down. Their silence is deafening, and its dumb.

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The Conservative Party's gay groundrules

If you're following at home, here's what we've been able to gather so far.

You can be supportive of people who are supportive of gay rights, just for god's sake don't tell anyone that you are.

And you can give money to pride parades, just please don't be all flashy about it or you'll rile-up the heteros:

Ablonczy, the MP for Calgary-Nose Hill who famously introduced Harper to his wife, Laureen, was reportedly so impressed by Pride's "polished and professional" application that she insisted on coming to Toronto to present the cheque in person. A Conservative source said it was the media coverage that prompted the backlash against Ablonczy.

"The TV shots of her with transvestites inflamed some people," the source said.

Another Tory insider agreed the sight of drag queens with the minister caused Ablonczy "big-time" trouble because she had not cleared her attendance at the event with Harper's office.

In other words, keep your support for the gays on the down-low, would seem to be the message.

Stay classy, Conservative Party.

And an interesting lesson there for Conservative ministers: Call the PMO before you're seen in public with any drag queens. My god, if they had that rule under Jean Chretien and Paul Martin, then Hedy Fry would have needed her own 1-800 number.

BTW, here's the pic that seems to have riled-up the neanderthals of the Conservative kingdom:

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