Economy outweighs anti-gay remarks
Former teacher wins Edmonton-area riding where jobs were key
EDMONTON— Mark Smith of the United Conservative Party won the Drayton Valley—Devon seat handily on Tuesday, despite controversy that erupted two weeks ago after the emergence of a sermon in which he compared homosexuality to pedophilia and a paper he wrote in which he advocated for the right to fire gay teachers.
The riding, west of Edmonton, tells the tale of how fixing the economy and building pipelines outweighed concerns about Smith’s stance on social issues. Voters in the riding have traditionally voted overwhelmingly conservative.
Tuesday was no different, with Smith getting more than four times the votes as the second-place challenger Kieran Quirke of the NDP.
Smith supporters said this election was all about the economy.
“We’ve got to start getting the oilfield going again. Now, how I and a lot of people see it (is) we’re anti-oil and gas right now in this province,” said Richard Guildford, who showed up to the polls after work Tuesday still wearing overalls.
“It has to change. It’s a sad place right now, but we’re hoping for the best.”
Guildford said Smith’s comments didn’t faze him at all, and brushed off the controversy as dirty politics.
The NDP called for Smith’s firing after CJSR radio program Gaywire posted a clip on Twitter from a sermon Smith gave to a Baptist church in November 2013, in which he drew a comparison between homosexuality and pedophilia.
In the 46-minute sermon, posted on the Calvary Baptist Church website, Smith questions whether homosexual love is “real” or “good” love.
“You don’t have to watch any TV for any length of time today where you don’t see on the TV programs them trying to tell you that homosexuality and homosexual love is good love,” Smith said in the clip.
“Heck, there are even people out there, I could take you to places on the website I’m sure, where you could find (that) pedophilia is love.”
Gaywire host Alexa DeGagne called the comments “incredibly scary” for the LGBTQ community. Edmonton city Councillor Michael Walters, a former high school student of Smith, said the sermon was “vile” and “jarring.”
Nick Wallington, who had Smith as a teacher, said he believes Smith will keep his personal beliefs separate from his job. But, like other voters the Star spoke with at the town’s polling station Tuesday evening, he seemed less than enthusiastic about it.
“There’s things in everyone that you’re not going to like. So digging up something from five or six years ago — it’s politics,” he said.
Wallington said he voted for the UCP in hopes the party will kick-start the industry.
With a population of roughly 7,000, Drayton Valley was a farming and logging town before the oil boom in the 1950s and has been closely tied to the oil and gas industry since.
It has been hit hard by the economic downturn, and many residents have taken out their anger on the previously governing NDP.
Smith is well known in Drayton Valley, where he taught social studies at Frank Maddock High School for 30 years.
He won a seat in the 2015 election as a Wildrose Party candidate with 37 per cent of the vote, followed by Progressive Conservative candidate Diana McQueen in second place.
The controversy over Smith’s views on homosexuality put the party in a tough position, as nominations were closed for new candidates at the time the comments surfaced, so it would have been too late to replace anyone removed from the race.
UCP Leader Jason Kenney acknowledged Smith’s comments were hurtful and offensive, but stood by him as a candidate.