John Tory named leader of Ontario Tories; REALwomen dissent

Catholic New Times, Oct 10, 2004

Former principal secretary for ex-Premier Bill Davis and Chief Executive of Rogers Cable John Tory was elected Sept. 18, leader of the Ontario Conservative Party.

REALWomen, a longtime socially conservative lobby group distanced themselves from Tory. A press release states:

"John Tory has made a mistake. He has thrown his support behind homosexual activists and their cause of same-sex marriage."

"This issue is the mark on which social conservatives draw the line. As a result, Mr. Tory will not have the support of social conservatives, the bedrock of the party. Social conservatives will treat him with disdain and distrust as they did his predecessor, Ernie Eves, unless he adjusts his position on the issue. Will they contribute money to bring down the party's debt of $8.5 million? Mr. Tory will have to rely on his homosexual supporters to assist him. The latter, according to Statistics Canada in a report released in 2003, in its first survey to include a question on sexual orientation, found that there was a total of 316,800 homosexuals in Canada, or approximately 1% of the population. In Ontario, according to this Stats Canada report, homosexuals/ lesbians total 107,200 individuals.

By throwing his lot in with the homosexual activists to the detriment of society and the social conservatives within his party, Mr. Tory has detrimentally affected his electoral chances. He has split his party over the homosexual issue. His party will not rally behind him unless there is a significant change in this stance."