08.18.2011 06:42 AM

The Ontario NDP: not exactly a beacon of tolerance and respect

How very interesting!

In her headlong rush to dispose of core Dipper principles, look who else Andrea Horwath is tossing overboard!

15 Comments

  1. Derek Pearce says:

    Well not that he needs to worry much, but this certainly helps Glenn Murray retain his riding.

  2. frmr disgruntled Con, now Happy Lib says:

    “A bountiful providence fashioned us holler, so that we could, our principles swaller”-J.S. Woodsworth

    Now J.S. Woodsworth, founder of the CCF, precursor to the NDP, was an ordained minister, and back in the day, may have had his own prejudices against gays and lesbians….but I think he would have considered the greater principle involved, as he did when he was practically the only member of Parliament to protest Canada’s entry into WW II.

    And for the record, J.S. Woodsworth’s grandaughter, Ellen Woodsworth, A COPE Vancouver Councillor, is an out and proud lesbian……marched in the Vancouver Pride Parade in fact…. ellenwoodsworth.com

  3. gray says:

    If the facts stated are true this is dreadful. As a lifelong NDP voter and supporter I am dismayed by this. Having the party executive interfering with local nominations is ordinarily LPC style behaviour and should be condemned by all democratic minded Canadians.

    • Chamberlain Winner of the Most Arrogant Commenter Award (2011) says:

      No, it is up to the party’s membership if they want to be treated that way. Unless I am a member, why would I get worked up over a party’s internal politics? I can choose to vote for them or not based on who the party puts forward.

      (And that is why I am opposed to PR.)

      • Chamberlain Winner of the Most Arrogant Commenter Award (2011) says:

        (The list part of PR, that is. It would seem that Scott Piatkowski’s situation wasn’t helped with his choice of shirt that day. Not the best optics.)

  4. Drew says:

    Did any of the commenters bother to read the article?
    This story has nothing to do with sexual orientation. It is not a slight on the queer community. If you’re that desperate to find an angle here perhaps you could go after the exec for meddling in nominations but Liberals realize how shamefully hypocritical that would be.

    • Chamberlain Winner of the Most Arrogant Commenter Award (2011) says:

      Messy but the exec seems to be clear on who it wants to win over, and what may not be helpful in that regard.

  5. DL says:

    There is no issue whatsoever about this woman being lesbian. In fact the ONDP is running openly gay or lesbian candidates in ridings that are far more winnable than Etobicoke North. It sounds like she is embroiled in a messy lawsuit and the NDP (like all parties) doesn’t want candidates who are going to create controversy and embarrassment. The headline has no connection to the article.

    • Attack! says:

      Fair point… but not balanced.

      True, it seems the lawsuit is the heart of the matter, here, not her sexual orientation,

      but arguably, it’s not the lawsuit per se which makes her controversial enough do be dump-worthy (care to guarantee that no other [non-dumped] ON NDP candidates are, or have been, involved in lawsuits during nominations?),

      but who it’s AGAINST: specifically, a UNION, and likely one of the ones with the most stalwart support of the NDP, at that (it seems she stopped teaching a while back, and had started working for the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, which represents teachers, http://www.etfo.ca/aboutetfo/pages/default.aspx )

      Think they’d dump a candidate who was engaged in a lawsuit with a Walmart, e.g., for making her work too many hours w/o pay as a manager? Or would they celebrate that?

      (Plus, for all we know, the lawsuit DOES have something to do with her sexual orientation; they’re all staying mum about that.)

  6. Jim Hayes says:

    Im having trouble understanding that if this is not an LBGTQ issue why is it such a significant story in X-tra?

  7. DL says:

    I can only surmise that its a slow news day at Xtra – because I keep reading and re-reading the story and cannot find any gay or lesbian ‘angle” on the story beyond the headline. Its very poor journalism.

  8. Andy Lehrer says:

    To be fair, the Xtra headline is misleading since it implies Andrews was nixed because she was a lesbian when the actual article has no evidence of that but instead posits she was denied because she’s suing her union. Nevertheless, the nomination meeting does appear to have been a complete fiasco and travesty of the NDP’s own constitution.

  9. Randi4 Andi says:

    We all loved Andy.

    Even when he was a chubby little boy he would come down to The Barracks and the Richmond Street Health Emporium.

    One hard playful slap and you could ride the waves for 10 minutes!

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