TORIES SHOW TRUE COLOURS ON PRIDE

Leaked email reveals PCs still struggle with LGBTQ rights 20 years after Vriend decision

Last Friday afternoon was a hectic day for PC party staffers at the legislature.

Some of them, it seems, were frustrated by the way the Notley government has been handling the paperwork around the allparty child intervention committee — doing big document dumps a few days before each meeting, leaving opposition staffers scrambling to go over all the material.

Others were also deeply worried about the upcoming Pride Festival in Edmonton. Jason Kenney, the new leader, had declined to take part in any of the Pride events, citing a variety of prior commitments. The PCs had also missed the deadline to take part in the parade itself — instead, they were sending MLA Richard Starke to take part in the related festival events.

The Tories have been taking part in Edmonton Pride-related festivities since 2012, when Alison Redford spoke at the parade. Premier Dave Hancock rode in the parade in 2014. The failure of the party to take part in this year’s joyous celebration of LGBTQ rights was bound to be noticed, especially given Kenney’s own bumpy track record on the issue.

So one bright staffer came up with a plan to minimize negative publicity — while highlighting the child welfare panel’s paperwork issues.

“Forwarding this to Paula Simons with a note from Ric or communications would probably be just as effective. It might also distract from the impending pride stories,” he wrote in an email to fellow staffers.

Ric would be MLA Ric McIver, the PC’s representative on the all-party child intervention panel.

Paula Simons? Ah. That would be me.

The Tories, by the way, never sent me that note. It appears that just two minutes after the researcher sent his email, one of his bosses, the party’s communications director, Christine Way, emailed him back to kibosh the idea.

“Please don’t do that,” Way wrote. “I recommend that Ric raise these issues with the Chair before going to the media. There’s also a better way to frame these issues to pique Paul’s (sic) interest.”

This whole tawdry Tory conversation, of course, wasn’t one the rest of us were supposed to hear.

But Kevin Weidlich, the party’s chief of staff, working from home on his iPad, accidentally hit “reply all” — and somehow sent the whole email chain to the chair of the child intervention panel, NDP MLA Debbie Jabbour.

Weidlich is now accusing the NDP of exploiting the private email chain to embarrass the Tories.

“They’re just trying to torque it up,” he says. “As chief of staff, I want my team to be able to brainstorm freely. This was a bad idea, and we killed it within minutes. We don’t do leaks or play games. But I can see how this would get under your skin as a journalist.” That’s putting it mildly. I hate that anybody imagines I could be manipulated that easily.

What I hate more, though, is that someone thought, however briefly, that it might be a good idea to exploit dead and abused foster children to distract from gay rights.

As journalists, we know people leak to us to advance their own agendas and interests. Any time someone “gives” me a story, they’re trying, on some level, to play me. But it’s pretty disquieting to see the process in action.

Opposition parties, in fact, have a real, legitimate complaint when it comes to the child intervention panel. Overwhelmed Children’s Services staffers, under the gun themselves, aren’t doing enough to ensure panel members have time to review the massive amounts of material before them. That undermines productive discussion.

But that has nothing to do with the party’s failure to celebrate and embrace equal rights for LGBTQ Albertans, especially young Albertans. Let’s not forget how many queer youth end up on the streets or in care specifically because their families have rejected them.

Weidlich says he’s now encouraging PC MLAs to take part in Calgary’s Pride Parade this September, to make up for their absence in Edmonton. But all he can do is encourage. He can’t make them go.

Which leaves me discouraged. Next year marks the 20th anniversary of the Vriend decision, an Alberta court case that added sexual orientation to the Charter of Rights. Yet here we are, with both the PCs and the Wildrose, the future would-be United Conservative Party, still unable to get this issue right.

Fellas? It’s a parade. And it’s a hoot.

And you’re sending a clear message when you decline or forget to take part.

Don’t think for a minute that you can distract me — or anyone else — from noticing when you show your true colours.