BC Politics with Hubert Beyer

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS GONE TOO FAR

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VICTORIA – I have a question for Education Minister Paul Ramsey: If the proposed anti-homophobic program in our schools is implemented, will teachers confine themselves to instilling tolerance of gays and lesbians or will they have to tell students that homosexuality is just another, quite normal lifestyle? If it’s the latter, I’m glad my grandchildren are in private school.

I have friends who are gay. They are not sexual predators. They don’t try to foist their convictions on others. They live quiet lives with same-sex partners. They are good people. I like them, I respect them, but they also know that I don’t consider homosexuality normal in my wildest dreams.

Greater acceptance and tolerance of homosexuals is evident wherever you look. Last week, a character on a popular sitcom told 40 million viewers that she is a lesbian. The fact that the actress is a lesbian in real life is irrelevant.

Several other comedy shows feature gay characters, a sure sign that homosexuality is not only a safe topic, but that political correctness demands homosexuality to be viewed as just another way of life. And that’s the part that I won’t accept.

The most vocal critics of the proposed anti-homophobia program for B.C. schools claim that the inevitable result will be the teaching of homosexuality. These critics come mostly from an extreme religious background and their stand should be taken in that context.

To say that the program’s intent is to advocate homosexuality is utter nonsense, but my question still stands: will homosexuality to described as just another, perfectly normal lifestyle? If it is, we’re on the wrong track.

Our schools must teach tolerance of others. Tolerance is the greatest and least developed human capacity. Intolerance doesn’t just manifest itself in homophobia. It produces racism and hatred of anything and anyone different from the norm.

But why is it not possible to teach our children to be tolerant of their fellow humans without slotting and categorizing every minority in detail?

The proposed program is bound to fail because students most in need of acquiring tolerance for others, those who are taught intolerance toward gays and lesbians at home, will probably be pulled out of it by their parents.

The solution to the controversy that swirls around the government’s and the B.C. Teachers’ Federation’s attempts to stem the tide of homophobia in our schools is probably to be found in the tried and true Canadian compromise.

A carefully crafted program that teaches students respect for and tolerance of minorities will go lot further than a program specifically developed toward acceptance of gays and lesbians.

The latter will never be accepted by religious groups who fear that the proposed program may actually prompt some children to experiment with homosexuality, and the result will be more division in our communities, and more intolerance than any existing homophobia can ever trigger.

My children, all grown up now, learned about homosexuality from family discussions. Along with those discussions went parental warnings that intolerance toward gays and lesbians is as unacceptable as intolerance of other minority groups.

If the subject of homosexuality is to be part of any curriculum, it ought to be at the post-secondary level, as part of a university course on human relations. Any debate of the subject in detail, other than the need for tolerance, shouldn’t take place in classrooms of 10-year-olds.

The government’s stubborn determination to introduce its proposed anti-homophobia program in our schools is, in fact, as intolerant of a minority group – the one unalterably opposed to it – as those it tries to convince that tolerance is the way to go.

And the teachers’ federation’s habit of ridiculing and belittling those who have the temerity to disagree with its high-handed, politically correct policies is nothing short of intolerance as well.

WHERE THE REAL BRITSH COLUMBIANS LIVE

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WILLIAMS LAKE – I visited Alex Fraser country last week, and let me tell you, the Cariboo is as far removed from the south of the province as ever. The 650 kilometres along the Trans-Canada Highway and 97 North between Vancouver and Williams Lake don’t even begin to tell the story.

The difference starts north of Hope. I stop at a restaurant a ways north of Hell’s Gate in the Fraser Canyon. The TV is tuned to a station showing country music videos. Guys in cowboy boots, blue jeans and denim jackets sip coffee.

Ashtrays are on every table; no need to ask for a seat in the smoking section. I briefly wonder how the loggers, whose presence dominates the restaurant, would react if some prissy regional district bureaucrat came in and told them they couldn’t smoke in 66 per cent of the place. It wouldn’t be a wise idea.

I arrive in Williams Lake. You know you’re in the Cariboo when you see more trucks than cars. This is the kind of country where, Bill Bennett once said, the real British Columbians live.

The late Alex Fraser, minister of highways during Bill Bennett’s days, is a legend in these parts. People remember him. He was a local boy who worked tirelessly for his constituents.

I remember Alex too, and fondly so. When the Quesnel Cariboo Observer stopped running Alex’s weekly Socred political manifesto, masquerading under the term "column," he stormed into the newsroom, demanding an explanation.

Jerry Macdonald, the editor, told him he didn’t have the space. "What do you mean, you don’t have the space," thundered Alex. " You’re running that goddamned Beyer." That was Alex.

The reason I’m in Williams Lake is the annual general meeting of the Cariboo Lumber Manufacturers’ Association, CLMA for short. I’ve been asked to be moderator of a panel discussion.

The panelists are Janna Kumi, Assistant Deputy Minister, Operations Division, of the Forest Ministry; Rick Franko, vice-president of wood product sales for Weldwood of Canada Ltd., and Dr. Clark Binkley, dean of the University of British Columbia’s forestry faculty.

I’m glad I’m just the moderator. As a journalist, I’m expected to know a little about a hell of a lot of subjects, while being an expert at none. These guys are pros.

The night before, at a social gathering, I had run into B.C.’s Chief Forester Larry Pedersen and told him jokingly that, on the basis of a cursory inspection, I’d come to the conclusion that the local forest district’s annual allowable cut could be increased by at least 25 per cent. Larry groaned and said, "Hubert, we need a talk."

Next day, Binkley says that my remark wasn’t that far off base. A friend of mine who sat next to Larry tells me later that our chief forester covered his eyes and mumbled something like oh, no.

Well, Binkley was talking about the future, when some of our forest land could be so intensively managed that it will yield far more fibre than it does now. Relax, Larry.

Janna Kumi calls for a new social contract between industry and her ministry. The two, she says, have been at loggerheads too long.

Rick Franko warns that B.C. hasn’t seen anything yet when it comes to the brave new world of the global economy B.C. is up against. He shows a slide of a huge forest of eucalyptus trees in Brazil, each one of which is an exact replica of the other.

The trees are cloned. Their branches come out at the same spot. They are as identical as twins, only there are thousands of them. Talk about Orwell’s 1984. But the trees grow fast and produce excellent fibre. Down the road, they are ready to bury our forest industry.

It’s about 3 p.m. The meeting is over and I mingle. Alex Fraser’s name comes up again and again. O.K., they named a bridge in the Lower Mainland after him, but Alex’s real legacy lives on right here, in the Cariboo.

CHILDREN’S MINISTER SHOULD RESIGN

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VICTORIA – "Mr. Speaker:

"A two-month-old baby girl is fighting for her life in Victoria General Hospital today. Molly DeLaronde was admitted to hospital with injuries she sustained while in the care of my ministry.

"When I became minister of the newly-created Ministry of Children and Families, I had high hopes that I would be able to change the system and spare other children the fate of Matthew Vaudreuil or Elijah Thomas. Sadly, I failed.

"In accordance with parliamentary tradition, I accept full responsibility for what happened to Molly DeLaronde and hereby inform this House that I have tendered my resignation as Minister of Children and Families.

"I hope with all my heart that a new minister will succeed where I failed. My prayers are with little Molly today and so, I hope, are yours. Thank you Mr. Speaker."

That’s what Penny Priddy, Minister of Children and Families, should have said in the legislature last Tuesday, after the story of Molly DeLaronde broke. But is wasn’t. Instead of resigning, Priddy valiantly tries to defend the indefensible.

Little Molly had been living in a foster home for five days when she was brought to hospital with bruises and head injuries. At the time of writing, she remained in critical condition.

Molly had been given into foster care despite a court order giving custody to Molly’s aunt. Molly was born addicted to methadone because her mother is on methadone. The baby had been in hospital since birth, withdrawing from the medication, until she was given into foster care.

Molly’s mother had requested that her sister be given custody of the baby until she got her life together. Molly’s aunt, Cindy Engbrecht, has four grown children and has already custody of her sister’s other, five-year-old child.

Engbrecht said the arrangement had been worked out by the family. "We’re a family that sticks together. Jackie (the baby’s mother) wanted her to be with family, where she knew she would be loved." A nursery, complete with a row of little pink dresses was waiting for Molly at her aunt’s home.

The foster mother in question is a nurse and single mother. Police said they were investigating and had two suspects.

Why was Molly given into foster care instead of going to her aunt’s, as the court order said? Because the ministry wanted to do a study of Engbrecht’s home first, which takes between 45 and 60 days.

Normally, insistence on such a study makes sense. In this case it doesn’t, because Molly’s aunt had already custody of her sister’s other child. Proof that she could just as well care for Molly was but one brief visit by ministry staff away.

The system failed, once again, because bureaucratic rule took precedence over common sense. And it was bureaucracy Priddy vowed to end. She was to bring a sense of sanity to a system that had been mired in the morass of an unrelenting bureaucracy for years.

I like Priddy a lot. She is a no-nonsense women and she brought a lot of good intentions and a fiery dedication to what is without doubt the most gut-wrenching portfolio. But good intentions weren’t enough.

Of course, no personal blame can be attached to Priddy, but our system of parliamentary democracy demands that ultimate responsibility for the actions of ministry staff rest with the minister.

Priddy’s resignation should have been on Premier Glen Clarks desk at 10 a.m. Tuesday, followed by her official announcement in the legislature that afternoon, along the lines I suggested.

A little baby girl fighting for her life demands no less.