Time to set the facts straight

I ALSO BELIEVE IN THE DIGNITY OF ALL INDIVIDUALS. — TANYA GRANIC ALLEN

Alot has been said about me in the media in the past few weeks. In these stories, quotes were taken out of context and slanderous allegations made.

I wanted to explain my position weeks ago. I was under strict instructions, however, from Doug Ford’s team to be quiet and let them handle it. I obliged. I was a “team player.” I didn’t speak with the mainstream media.

That was a mistake. Ford’s team did nothing to help me — indeed, they cast me aside. So I’ll speak now, and set the facts straight.

I am a daughter of immigrants: my mother is from Malta, my father is from Croatia. Croatia was ruled by the Yugoslav Communists for generations, people of all faiths (Croatia has a massive Catholic majority) were persecuted. As in all Marxist regimes, it was official policy to attack the traditional family and the bond between parents and children. The country liberated itself in the 1990s after a bloody war. My family experienced much of this upheaval; some were killed.

In 2014, while eight months pregnant (and on medication with a serious related illness) I spoke at a Catholic Croatian youth conference, at a Croatian Catholic Church in Ontario. I expressed my shock (“vomit in disbelief” was the emotive phrase I used) that the then-government of Croatia, a land only recently free, was embracing a policy of compulsory sex-ed and promotion of the doctrine of gay marriage on the children. My comment of sickened disbelief was not aimed at gay marriage per se, but at the fact that so many lives had been lost to secure our freedom of religion, only to have new oppressors emerge some 20 years later.

As a practicing Catholic, I support the teachings of the Catholic Church, including the traditional definition of marriage. I support that teaching, and I also believe in the dignity of all individuals. I am also a proud Canadian, and I obey our laws, even those I disagree with. In my campaign for Ontario PC leader, and in Mississauga Centre, not once did I comment on the issue of same-sex marriage. That is a long-settled federal issue, not a provincial one.

The accusation by the Liberals and the press that I am somehow against the dignity and human rights of LGBT+ people — or to use the popular term, “homophobic” — is a lie. Furthermore, it is a slur against the Catholic faith and, indeed, against people of all faiths who hold their religious values dear, but who are also responsible citizens of a free and democratic and tolerant Canada.

In 2013, Quebec introduced the Charter of Values, which sought to limit these freedoms by restricting religious expression from the public square. At the time, I criticized Quebec for its radical, anti-religious secularism; for trying to ban the turban, the cross, the yarmulke, the hijab, and, yes, face veils like the niqab and the burka.

At the time, I wrote a tongue-in-cheek blog in an attempt to expose their discrimination against freedom of religion. Even though I take issue with the niqab and the burka, I also support freedom of expression and freedom of religion. If a woman in Canada, of her own free will, wants to wear such garments, then it is her right to do so. Of course, my concerns with the burka and niqab, despite my overall defence of religious liberty, were twisted by the Liberals and the Toronto Star into an accusation that I was “Islamophobic.”

In 2016, I took over as head of a parental rights group called Parents As First Educators (PAFE). Our focus has been the repeal of the anti-family, anti-religion Kathleen Wynne sex-education curriculum. I am not against sexual education and believe it has a place. But not Wynne’s radical version. I have been an outspoken advocate for the rights of all parents in this province, which include those from the Jewish, Muslim, atheist, Christian, Sikh, Hindu, and LGBT+ community.

For this, I have been accused of wanting to force my religious views on the people of Ontario using the sex-ed curriculum. That is incorrect. I support the true separation of church and state, but that separation has to go both ways, which includes religious liberty free of state interference. Ontario parents have had to endure the state’s overreach into their lives under Premier Wynne. I simply hope to restore a more proper balance.

Thankfully, that may soon come. The days are numbered for the Kathleen Wynne Liberals. And while Doug Ford has broken the promise he made to me, I am not going away. Nor is PAFE. Nor are the other freedom-loving, pro-family voters and activists who helped make Doug Ford PC leader. When the PCs win a majority government on June 7, we all look forward to continuing the fight for Ontario children, parents, and families.