All of the Canadian national news providers were headlining tonight with the story of Conservative MP Tom Lukiwski’s 1991 video containing an anti-gay slur. In case you didn’t catch it, it goes like this:
TOM LUKIWSKI: Well, as we say in tour, I may be old, but I’m fucking A, eh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And who is this A person?
TOM LUKIWSKI: Well, let me put it to you this way. There’s A’s and there’s B’s. The A’s are guys like me, the B’s are homosexual f**gots with dirt on their fingernails that transmit diseases.
Wait, it’s even better on tape! In addition to his silky smooth demeanor complemented by a sporty moustache, as Jodie so aptly observed, he delivers these lines with the unmistakable panache of Will Ferrell’s character in Anchor Man. Oh, and don’t miss the rampant sexism and racist remarks of now Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall. The NDPers who stumbled across this video in the old PC office found a real gem.
It’s pretty clear that Lukiwski’s comments are offensive in 2008. Kind of sickening, really. If any public official were to spout off something like that today, his/her head would roll unequivocally. But the real question that people are asking is: it was 1991, so is it enough that Lukiwski apologizes and assures us that the person in the video is not the person he is today?
For sure, it's important to consider that a lot has happened since then. It wasn’t until 1995 that sexual orientation became prohibited grounds for discrimination under Section 15 of the Charter (Egan v. Canada), and up until 1998, it was fair game in Alberta to be fired from your job due to your sexual orientation (Vriend v. Alberta). More recently, Parliament amended the Criminal Code in Bill C-250 to include sexual orientation as an “identifiable group” with respect to hate propaganda, which received assent in 2004. And, of course, same-sex marriage became law at a federal level in 2005. Indeed, much of Canada’s progressive legal record on gay rights is concentrated in the last decade and my trail of anecdotal evidence seems to indicate that attitudes have changed in tune.
It was 1991, so I can forgive Lukiwski’s moustache, but I’m not sure I’m satisfied with just a 1-minute apology outside the House of Commons Chamber. If it came from someone else, I might accept that an individual spewing such gut-wrenchingly hateful dialogue has since come around to a more accepting viewpoint. The Globe’s Adam Radwanski most generously presents this argument. I’m not feeling so generous. As a man associated with public office at the time of the video -- he was a campaign official for the provincial PCs -- and now a Member of Parliament sitting for the Government of Canada, he’s more than some drunk asshole talking shit about homos to his buddies at a party. Pssst, Lukiwski, you’re talking to the rest of the country, you’re talking to me, and we can all hear you!
One Comment
1 Emily
Posted November 1, 2008 at 10:20 amPermalink
It's pretty clear that Mr. Lukiwski's views have not changed at all. Looking at Hansard for June 28th 2005; just prior to the vote on same-sex marriage, he made the following statement:
"I firmly believe that by passing this legislation, we start on a very slippery slope which could affect societal change in a very adverse way. I see things which have been expressed before that could come down the pike, things like polygamy and others, while hiding behind the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. I am fearful that societal change could happen.
I also am a firm believer in the fundamental definition of marriage as we have known it all our lives. Marriage is and should continue to be between a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others. I was brought up in that environment and I will continue to believe that until the day I die."
"Until the day I die", sounds like a really long time; and hardly the words of a man now devoted to spending the rest of life making up for his 1991 'lapse of judgement.' Also when suggesting that same-sex marriage would provide a basis for legalizing polygamy (and other things, which he leaves vague) you're right, he sounds eerily similar to the homophobe; Larry Spencer, whom he replaced.
However, I have grown accustomed to this kind of thing from the new Conservative Party, which emerged from the extreme Right-Wing Canadian Alliance and Reform Parties, so was not really fazed by the whole thing. What did draw my attention was the fact that Mr. Lukiwski was a former member of the infamous Saskatchewan Conservatives (now called the Saskatchewan Party), during the time that they were embroiled in the one of the worst scandals in Canadian history. This was the party of Grant Devine, the premier whose government was so corrupt that criminal charges had to be laid, and several of his ministers were sent to prison, including John Scraba (the architect of the scandal) and Eric Bernston, the former Saskatchewan deputy premier, who were also seen on the tape.
Sadly, we have to remember that supporters of the old reform/Alliance that bred this narrow minded group, don't vote for these guys in spite of their ideology, but because of it. However, even neo-conservatives don't like to have their tax dollars stolen, so I'm focusing on corruption within the ranks, and the Cons are full of it. That's the only thing that will bring this party down.
I also believe the Conservatives may have actually orchestrated the homophobic outrage to steer us away from who Lubiwski really is.