Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Toronto Public School Board Election Debate: "Nice" is the New Shut Up

You can't make this stuff up. 

"One would normally expect an all-candidates meeting to be an opportunity for candidates to outline their positions, but also differentiate themselves from their opponents and if need be, discuss facts and matters of public interest about why their opponents might not be best suited for a position of authority."

"In the case of Ms. Malik, those reasons are plentiful. Aside from delivering a vicious anti-Israel speech at a pro-Hezbollah rally, and aside from having been an organizer for a fundraiser for the families of the Toronto 18 terrorists, there are other compelling reasons to question her suitability for public office."

"But when I tried to outline some very pertinent facts to the assembled audience, I was interrupted and prevented from doing so by the meeting's moderator, the ward's interim Trustee Briony Glassco."

"Briony is a lovely person, but she bizarrely decided to enforce a rule I've never seen in any other election debate, explaining 'we're only having people say nice things about each other.'  One can only speculate at her reasoning, but clearly she and I have different views regarding the public's right to make an informed decision about choosing their elected representatives."