BAD IDEA AIRED IN TORY RACE

The race for the leadership of Ontario's Conservative party, rather a
snore until now, just got a lot more interesting. Not one, but two of
the candidates say they'd gut the province's human-rights protection
agencies. Self-described dark horse Randy Hillier would get rid of
both the Human Rights Commission, which looks into systemic
discrimination, and the Human Rights Tribunal, which adjudicates
individual complaints of discrimination. Perceived front-runner Tim
Hudak would be marginally more gentle, scrapping the tribunal and
reducing the commission to a public education role.

No sensible source gives Hillier, who calls himself a libertarian, a
chance of winning. But Niagara MPP Hudak is another matter. This part
of his platform sets up a battle with his main challenger, Christine Elliott.

A little perspective is called for. This isn't an election. What
Hudak is trying to do is separate the Conservatives from the John
Tory-led version, which the party brain trust now thinks was too Red
Tory, fighting with the Liberals for space in the moderate middle.
But the fact that Hudak is putting this idea front and centre in his
leadership run doesn't mean it would remain there in an election
campaign. His job now is to generate as much support as possible, and
that means he needs the muscle of the far-right segment of the party.
If and when he does win the party leadership, his job changes to
trying to get the party in power. And the Conservatives are not going
to get into power by gutting the agencies that protect individual
rights and freedoms.

Critics of the human rights protection system say it's broken and is
running amok. While that's overstating it, there's no doubt there are
serious problems. Consider, for example, the case of the Burlington
club owner successfully prosecuted and forced to allow a patron to
smoke marijuana for medical reasons in close proximity to other
patrons who find the smoke and activity offensive.

Situations such as this are not uncommon, and suggest there are cases
where human rights apparatus is used unwisely and inappropriately. So
by all means, fix the problem. Ensure the human rights protection
system is objective, not ideologically driven, transparent, timely
and even-handed. But killing it altogether, which is what Hudak is
effectively saying, is such a bad idea it's almost funny. Ironically,
Hudak seems to be forgetting that it was the Conservative
administration of John Robarts that put in place measures to protect
"people who are vulnerable and who lack the means to fight for their
rights through the costly legal process." If Hudak really doesn't
think that philosophy is as valid today as it was back in 1962 when
it was introduced, he's not ready to be premier.

And if he's foolish enough to make this a plank in an election
platform, he'd be wise to recall what happened to his party when John
Tory unwisely made public funding for faith-based private schools a
key policy in the last provincial election. Ontarians know and
cherish the core values that make this a great place to live and
work. They won't elect someone who doesn't share those values.