Religious Right is invading Canada

[sonicx]

Lock your doors.

TORONTO -- The man known to have blazed the trail for the religious-conservative movement in the United States rallied Canadian faith leaders yesterday, urging them to get behind the vote.

Ralph Reed, who led hundreds of thousands of members of the religious right to get the vote out during the era of former U.S. presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, told delegates to a Christian conference last night to put on their work boots and tennis shoes and knock on doors.

"Come Jan. 23, there's going to be a new Canada of conservative traditional values," he told a cheering crowd of 400 people who greeted his remarks with a standing ovation.

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"We're not trying to change a church into a political party, and we're not trying to change a political party into a church, but if the people of the church don't get involved, somebody else will."

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Charles McVety, president of Canada Christian College, said yesterday any political changes in Canada would not be nearly as extreme as they have been south of the border. "The demographics are just too different," he said. "There will never be an evangelical movement here."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20051201/ELXNREED01/TPNational/Canada

[Spazito]

1. Ralphie will soon be too busy trying to stay out of prison to be

focusing on Canada. He is under investigation as part of the Abramoff scandal. He should be putting his prison ministry stuff together instead of trying to interfere here.

I can't wait to see the slimy POS in front of a judge.

[BlueManDude]

2. this should really concern you guys

be careful what you wish for

[Telly Savalas]

3. I'm not worried at all.

Most people in Canada think that Ralph Reed's ilk are a bunch of loonies. As that guy states in the last quote in the original post, the demographics are different here.

[imouttahere]

4. I want to believe that, Telly.....

but we here in the U.S. underestimated these loonies before.

In talking to my friends in Vancouver, who lean slightly right, it sounds like they are definitely not fooled by these folks or even Harper. They will vote for Sam Sullivan for Van Mayor, but not Harper or his ilk. Is this the average "centrist" attitude that I always hear so much about?

[Telly Savalas]

5. Right-wing "Christian" evangelicals comprise a much, much smaller

percentage of the Canadian population than they do the U.S. population. And the places where you find them in any noticable numbers are typically in ridings already held by the Conservative Party.

[imouttahere]

6. Ok, that's comforting....

tough loss for the Leafs tonight. Kind of a weird game.

[Lisa]

8. and also, the religious left is pretty strong

The United Church (our largest Protestant denomination) is progressive on many social justice and human rights issues. (They organized many of the anti-war protests across Canada.)

And up here, even the Baptists ... well, think of Tommy Douglas. He was a Baptist minister before he went into politics (and introduced Medicare).

I have met some religious conservatives, so I agree that there is a possibility that they could be used as foothold for US-style right-wing extremism (e.g. through funding and media propaganda from down south) -- but I'm cautiously optimistic that most Canadians are religious moderates. The religious left isn't as strong as it was back during the Vietnam era, when they united with unions and student groups to pressure the Trudeau government to accept the American war resisters, for example. But still -- after I saw the tens of thousands of people in the streets for the recent peace marches, I figure it's far from moribund.

And as long as the CBC is broadcasting, it will help marginalize things like FOX-type news or commercial talk-radio. If only because people will be tuning in to the CBC out of sheer habit -- after all, there are only so many channels/stations one can tune in to at any given time!

[HEyHEY]

7. Canadians aren't as religious by nature - it's no worry

[ClusterFreak]

9. Trust us....we don't wish for it at all. n/t

[terrya]

12. I'm worried about it, also.

I don't fucking like this shit one bit. It's bad enough we in the States have to put up with the likes of this asshole and his fellow hatemongers. The Canadian people should definitely not have to put up with this shit. Reed and others like him have no business interfering in Canadian politics.

[pbca]

10. It'll never fly here

The Conservatives here can't openly oppose abortion because they have no support there. Fred Phelps is banned from the country for hate speech. If they openly embraced the kind of christian conservatism practiced in the US the conservates would likely be the smallest party in parliament - a few seats in Alberta and that's about it.

[ailsagirl]

11. I sat near a religious right person at a meeting the other day...

And I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He backs Junior
because he (chimp) is "a Christian." He must have mentioned
"the Lord" (i.e., praying a lot, fighting abortion) a dozen
times today. A woman in the meeting was trying to get her
point across about things that bugged her and punctuated it
with a "Goddammit!!" ("gasp!") I thought he would fall off
his chair from shock. I stifled a laugh.

Also said that "Christians don't hate gays-- they just don't
approve of the things they do." Arghhhh!!!

[fudge stripe cookays]

13. Um...they're already there. In southern Alberta.

If you can keep them contained there, you'll be OK.

The first anti-abortion billboard I ever saw was between LEthbridge and Taber off Hwy 3 in southern Alberta.

fsc

[Lisa]

14. also some areas on the BC mainland ...

My Member of Parliament's office staff reported getting some phone calls from that part of the province.