And people wonder why Harper orders his party members to NOT SPEAK.

[theweaselking]

From an interview with CPC candidate Gilles Duguay:

What is your stance on gay marriage?

I don't have to give you my opinion and my party allows me to vote on moral questions however I want. So if the question is presented in the House of Commons, I will give my personal views on this question. My party recognizes that these are my own views on any topic of moral nature.

How can the people of your riding vote for you if you aren't willing to express your opinions?

I don't have to divulge anything to you. Are you the KGB? I have opinions. I have nothing to divulge. This is not a trial. We are not in a court of law. I don't have to divulge anything.

Hint: There's a reason why Canada's Interim Placeholder Government stomps so hard on their members who have the temerity to speak their mind in public: It's because they're batshit insane, and Harper knows that the less Canadians know about what his party really think and do, the more likely they are to vote for them. For you Brits: It's like if the BNP refused to answer any questions except ones about their tax plans in an effort to hide the rest of their platofrm. For the Americans: It's what the Republicans have done for decades about their bigotry, but less successful. For everyone else: well, make up your own comparison, I don't have one handy.

Comments

[ceramufary.livejournal.com]

..... Wow.... *giggles* I'm sorry. That's pretty weak. I'd say the media needs to step up, but when you're basically Godwinned for asking questions, it's kinda hard. .... Good luck!

translations as follows...

[reyl.livejournal.com]

What is your stance on gay marriage?

I think homosexuality is immoral. My party supports this view so long as I don't say anything out loud that could offend the fags in my riding.

How can the people of your riding vote for you if you aren't willing to express your opinions?

I wouldn't want to offend anyone in my riding by letting them know how much of a homophobe I am, so shuddup.

Re: translations as follows...

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Your translation misses, I think, the importance: He's a nobody in a lost riding anyway, and so his worries are not about offending the fags *in his riding*, but more of being put in the position of *saying* he hates fags in public.

Which, of course, means that either his party must endorse his views and lose the fag-lovers nationwide, who they *need* in order to be elected, or repudiate his views and lose THEIR ENTIRE BASE who are happy to let the CPC not talk about gay-hating only as long as it's clear that the CPC hates gays.

Re: translations as follows...

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

It could also be that he's in favour of SSM but doesn't want to say so for fear of pissing off his fellow ReformaTories.

Re: translations as follows...

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Possible, but unlikely, given that:
A) he's running for the CPC in a hopeless riding, making him clearly a True Believer, and
B)...

No, wait, A covers it nicely.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Ummm... he doesn't have to reveal his opinion? Hellloooo, policitian, voting for his constituents and all that - the people you represent kinda need to know how and why you're going to vote?

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Given that gay marriage is a totally dead issue in Canada and isn't likely to come up for another vote, even a pointless one, in the next decade? He's *kinda* got a point when he says that his opinion of it is irrelevant.

But they're not just asking about that issue specifically. They're asking how he feels on "moral" issues in general.