"Hateful and homophobic" Dalton doesn't condone "violence towards these people"
The NDP are calling for Marc Dalton, the BC Liberal candidate in Maple Ridge-Mission who once ran in Burnaby, to step down.
Dalton, an elementary school French-immersion teacher, made hateful remarks in an e-mail to a colleague:
NDP MLA Spencer Herbert called for Dalton's resignation and for Gordon Campbell to condemn the remarks.
Dalton has since apologized but has not resigned yet. Campbell has accepted the apology.
Word out of Liberal central headquarters is suggesting that Dalton will not be appearing at any further BC Liberal campaign events or attending all-candidates' debates.*
Dalton ran in the 2006 federal election and sought a second federal nomination in Burnaby for the most recent election but was disqualified for undisclosed reasons.
* Typo corrected - 7:51PM, April 25, 2009.
Dalton, an elementary school French-immersion teacher, made hateful remarks in an e-mail to a colleague:
I've been somewhat torn about making a response to your note to Bruce. I value maintaining a good relationship with you and all the staff and don't really enjoy jumping into a contentious issue.
As a parent of three school-aged children in public schools and as a teacher, I am very much concerned about the motions before the BCTF (B.C. Teachers Federation) presently being petitioned against.
I am not against homosexuals as people, but I do not support their lifestyle choices. I believe homosexuality is a moral issue. Most of us agree on many morals: respect, honesty, kindness. There are also many behaviours and acts that most of us would not condone: rape, robbery, assault, drunken driving, pedophilia, incest and so on.
There are other moral issues that large segments of our society do not see eye to eye: gambling, abortion, adultery, pornography. I believe that homosexuality fits in this category.
I became aware of the motions this weekend when a concerned mother of school children approached me and asked if I would get involved in some small way to see the proposals defeated. She handed me a clipping of the Vancouver Sun and some people to write.
There are many, many people who hold homosexuality to be an improper and high-risk behaviour. Though I oppose violence towards these people as well as towards all people, I am against the BCTF ram-rodding the homosexual motion against the wishes of great numbers of parents (and teachers) in this district and in this province.
Thank you for bearing with me.
NDP MLA Spencer Herbert called for Dalton's resignation and for Gordon Campbell to condemn the remarks.
Dalton has since apologized but has not resigned yet. Campbell has accepted the apology.
Word out of Liberal central headquarters is suggesting that Dalton will not be appearing at any further BC Liberal campaign events or attending all-candidates' debates.*
Dalton ran in the 2006 federal election and sought a second federal nomination in Burnaby for the most recent election but was disqualified for undisclosed reasons.
* Typo corrected - 7:51PM, April 25, 2009.
posted by Robert Burnaby at 8:55 PM
11 Comments:
Looks like this guy has once again had another Pandora's Box he forgot about.
The seat will go NDP.
He's got the Christian vote all locked up. (in the new remand centre)!
He should begin to save a soul.
His.
Now having read this letter in full I can't see the scandal. I guess the rule of thumb in politics is that the only thing you can say in relation to homosexuals is overwhelming praise. anything less is supposedly hatful.
Wrong.
Just treat everyone equally, no praise no criticism or indifference.
If you can't see the errors in Dalton's letter you need to read it again.
Dalton has lost the campaign. He's isn't going to win.
Maybe it's you who need to perform a re-read...
Now that I've seen the comment in context, I too am wondering why all the hulabaloo...
Why the politically correct censorship - really now! On balance these are pretty measured comments.
He's stating the obvious, that homosexuality is not a universally-accepted orientation (category three in his setup) and that at the time, he did not find it an acceptable 'lifestyle'.
Certainly that position can be debated at length - but resign ???
Sounds like the tyranny of the minority to me...
Watch what you say folks - you too can be blackballed !
The e-mail was like twelve years old. If that is all that someone who hangs onto gotcha emails for twelve years, I think Marc Dalton is pretty safe.
Sure he is. In his own church with his closed minded fundamentalists.
Splash one riding from the BC Liberals. That one is going NDP.
I'm sure the Fundamentalists are doing everything they can to get that guy elected, but it won't be enough.
Lots of people were more anti-gay 15 years ago. The important thing is what he believes today...
Does anyone know if he say his feelings in the email have since changed? Or does he still agree with his comments?
Most likely he hasn't changed his opinion, the "apology" is just a ruse. Wasn't obviously sincere. If it was, he would have had a press event and personally stated with the TV cameras filming.
The seat he's running in goes NDP.
Kind of creepy that someone is hold on to ``homophobic email`for so many years. Yes sir, creepy.
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