Pubdate: Sun, 30 Jan 2000
Source: Ottawa Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2000, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact:  http://www.canoe.ca/OttawaSun/
Forum: http://www.canoe.ca/Chat/home.html
Author: MARK DUNN -- Parliamentary Bureau

GAYS, POTHEADS OFF AGENDA

The UA Has Said No To Potheads And To Gays And Lesbians.

Delegates attending the movement's founding convention tore up a family 
values resolution that would have allowed a free vote in the Commons to 
extend benefits to gay and lesbian couples.

They were just as quick to burn a resolution that called for the 
decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana -- a move sought by police 
chiefs across the country.

As for extending benefits, Reform MPs downplayed suggestions the UA has 
shot itself in the foot and will hurt its chances of attracting key support 
in Ontario.

INTOLERANT PERCEPTION

Many feel one of the reasons Reform can't crack the Ontario-Manitoba border 
is its perceived intolerance to same-sex relationships.

Critics have suggested this weekend's stage-managed convention is nothing 
more than a vehicle for Preston Manning and his key advisers to shed 
Reform's extremist image to placate Ontario.

Reform MP Keith Martin urged delegates the perception could follow them 
into the UA.

"I don't think they are trying to be exclusionary," a guarded Martin said 
after the vote.

Martin pointed to a previous UA gathering last January when Alberta Premier 
Ralph Klein urged delegates to focus on the big issues like health and 
steer away from social conservative value issues.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart