"Of religious fanatics in the Conservative"

There are many great things about Twitter; one benefit is that it allows me to get behind Le Devoir's subscription wall. I follow Hélène Buzzetti; a link to her political piece of the day led to the discovery of this (once again, a modified Google translation for those who don't read French). As we've written before, the Contempt Party provides fundamentalist religious christian non-registered lobbyists like Charles McVety and Faytene Kryskow with direct access to Parliament via its evangelical MPs.

Today we discover that Jason Kenney is someone who believes in religious institutions that maintain catholic sharia. And he is a prominent member of the Harper Regime a political party that appears hell-bent intent upon changing the secularity of government.

Here's a CNN news clip link from the article, circa 1989-90:

The money quote from Le Devoir and the CNN piece:

Jason Kenney initiated a petition asking the Church to withdraw Catholic status from his university. The San Francisco Chronicle asked him about his reasons; Mr. Kenney replied: "If the university is not prepared to offer an educational environment consistent with the Catholic faith, it should cease to call itself Catholic. " On CNN Mr. Kenney said the [pro-choice] group had "destroyed the mission of the university." During the previous year Mr. Kenney tried to impose Catholic prayer before each meeting of the Student Senate, but his motion was defeated. Even the university's administrators found the the activities of young Kenney and others deplorable. Le San Francisco Bay Guardian avait publié en avril 1990 un article détaillant «le siège de la droite à USF». In a San Francisco Bay Guardian article published in April 1990 titled "The siege of the right-wing at USF", former professor Joseph Soehee described this zealous youth movement: "They want the return of the 50s. And I do not mean the 1950, I mean the 1550s: obedience, obedience, obedience."

The title of the post is the translation suggested by Google for "Des fous de Dieu chez les conservateurs" literally: God's crazies in the Conservative's ranks. And also. Paul Wells wonders what the hell Contempt party leader is doing with all his *free* time, now that he's locked out of his PMO politburo his office. This, too:

By the peculiar psychology of campaign journalism, asking a party leader how he has governed the country or how he would proceed if given a mandate to govern it some more is “playing along,” “in the tank,” “throwing lob balls.” Asking him process questions to work through our frustration at how he’s treating us, on the other hand, is “tough” and “uncompromising.”

Look, I find it upsetting that the Conservatives are shutting people out of their events, even people who have previously jumped through the ridiculous hoops it takes to be accepted to Conservative rallies but who are then found unacceptable for whatever Orwellian reason. I’m used to more relaxed rules.

But we are living in deluded fantasy if we think the hardest question an incumbent prime minister can face is about the attendance rules at his campaign events. And I cling to the belief that what’s worst about the Carson affair is that, five years after Harper’s government promised to provide clean water on Indian reserves, it’s still possible to get rich promising clean water for Indian reserves.