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The following are excerpts from newspapers throughout Alberta. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the ATA.
Candidate opposes public school board policy
[Wildrose candidate Allan] Hunsperger is entitled to his odious views that gays and lesbians will burn in hell, but he is not entitled to promote intolerance against homosexuals by arguing, as he did in a blog posting, that government (in the form of the Edmonton school board) should not protect gay and lesbian students from discrimination. Smith said Hunsperger is entitled to voice his opinion because he’s a pastor. His blog post has been removed and both Smith and Hunsperger insist they’re tolerant people. That’s not the impression you get reading Hunsperger’s fire-and-brimstone attack against the Edmonton school board. This is not just a pastor reading from the pulpit, this is a man who has erased the line between church and state by arguing, based on his religious beliefs, that government should not protect gay and lesbian students against discrimination. This is a man who wants to be a member of a government that will oversee public school boards. And Smith is happy to have him.
—Graham Thomson, Edmonton Journal, April 19, 2012
Students the victims, not Hunsperger
Last June, a few months before [Allan] Hunsperger secured a Wildrose nomination, he published a pastoral letter on his church website, attacking the Edmonton public school board as “godless” and “wicked” and “profane,” condemning the district’s recent measures to protect gay and lesbian students and staff from discrimination. … Speaking briefly with reporters [April 16], Hunsperger insisted his letter only expressed his private views, not party policy. “I love people and everybody,” he said. “I have no intolerance about anybody. But I do have a personal religious view and that’s what I stated in the blog.” … Let’s be clear. The issue isn’t Hunsperger’s constitutional right to his sacred beliefs. … He’s not the victim here. The victims are our community’s children who deserve to go to school without fear, without being told by their aspiring MLA that they’re damned to eternal torment because of who they are.
—Paula Simons, Edmonton Journal, April 17, 2012
Public office means talking to public
Do you have a question for the school trustee you elected to represent your interests at the Calgary Board of Education? Citizens had better be prepared to save their queries and concerns for the washroom breaks and hope the trustee they want to speak with is milling around. That’s the less-than-ideal solution the trustees decided upon during a behind-closed-doors meeting, when they voted to scrap their promised pre-meeting sessions with the public. … It should be noted who voted against scrapping the meetings: Trustees Sheila Taylor and Carol Bazinet. The others have some explaining to do and questions to answer. Why run for elected office if you don’t want to talk to the people who put you there?
—Editorial, Calgary Herald, April 16, 2012
