According to Ted Morton last night, Bill 208 is mainstream Alberta thinking.
No doubt, he is referring to this poll, which has already been shown to be a completely bogus piece of Push Polling - or at the very least the most blatant piece of hackery we've seen in years.
I wonder how people would respond to that poll if it had asked questions like "Is it acceptable to deny someone service because they are married?" or "Should people be protected when they express their opinion against interracial marriages?". Just because someone is gay doesn't mean that it is acceptable to throw them under the bus and treat them as lesser citizens by denial of service, or to subject them to indirect discrimination by teaching "against" gays. It's not what Bill 208 says that is the problem, it is what it doesn't say that I see as problematic. Morton is opening the door for all sorts of discriminatory, hateful behaviour - not just mere denial of service in a restaurant, but denial of lodgings or even medical care could be made under the guise of "objecting to SGM" or "expressing an opinion about SGM".
Even in very conservative Alberta, I can't imagine that the "mainstream" thinks that discrimination is "right".
Don't think for a moment that it's just a small part of the population that will be the subject of Ted Morton's mean-spirited politics, either. His Health Care "plan" is one that guarantees that low income Albertans and seniors will face the rough edge of Morton's thinking. Morton would quite cheerfully turn health care over to the private sector, and in doing so will seriously harm both our low income citizens and seniors disproportionately.
So, in Ted Morton's Alberta, not only will you face blatant hostility and discrimination if you are GLBT, the same will await those who are in their retirement years, as well as our senior citizens, who have already made their contributions to the society.
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