Former Saskatchewan Premier Grant Devine has dismissed the babblings of his Conservative staffers from 1991 as just plain dumb and stupid.  However, he has declined to comment on Tom Lukiwski’s highly offensive remarks about gays.  I am not surprised by Devine’s apparent reticence. 

Under Devine’s leadership, Saskatchewan Conservatives claimed theirs was the party of family values, a philosophy which did not embrace homosexuality.  Was Lukiwski’s utterance just an inadvertent, isolated comment or was it reflective of intolerant beliefs deeply held within the Conservative movement at the time?

Former CBC Saskatchewan journalist Gerry Jones authored a book about the Tory fraud scandal ‘SaskScandal – The Death of Political Idealism in Saskatchewan.’  Gerry offers this perspective of the events of the past week:

The Tom Lukiwski controversy is shining new light on what some would describe as a dark period in Saskatchewan’s political history. While Lukiwski’s choice of words are seen as shocking and unfortunate, the views behind them were common in the Saskatchewan Conservative Party ranks during the 1980’s and 90’s.

In 1987, Grant Schmidt, who served as the Minister of Human Services in the Grant Devine Government, called homosexuality a “deviant lifestyle”. He said employers should have the right not to hire homosexuals.  He also argued that homosexuals should not be allowed to adopt children. Schmidt was even given an award by a Committee to Protect the Family, and was cited for his position on gays and adoption.

Schmidt, of course, was in step with his boss, Premier Grant Devine, on condemning homosexuality. Devine was thrust in the national spotlight because of his comments when MP Svend Robinson declared his homosexuality in 1988. Devine compared homosexuals to bank robbers. He said he hated to think a Member of Parliament could stand and promote such a lifestyle with young people watching. He said he could say the same thing about bank robbers.

The same group that presented an award to Grant Schmidt also presented an award to Chantal Devine, wife of the Premier, for her work on behalf of the family.

During a provincial by-election in 1988, the Committee to Protect the Family distributed a pamphlet titled “Is Family a Dirty Word” which supported the criminalization of homosexuality.

The Devine Government rejected pressure by Human Rights groups to amend the province’s human rights legislation to provide protection for sexual orientation. The province’s Attorney General described homosexuality as an affront to nature.

So it was no surprise that when the October 1991 provincial election rolled around the Conservatives promoted themselves as the only party that would stand up for “family values”.

A Conservative candidate who was running in a Regina constituency openly claimed that homosexuals would bring an end to civilization and called for mandatory HIV testing and AIDS free restaurants. Another Conservative candidate, who was running in Saskatoon, equated homosexuality with pedophilia. A coalition in support of the families, and of course, the Conservatives, widely distributed a booklet entitled “The Real Issues. Where Do They Stand”? The “They”, of course, were the Liberals and the New Democrats.

It was in this political environment that Tom Lukiwski and his Tory colleagues partied into the evening after the Leader’s Debate with a video camera in hand, and it was those recorded comments by Lukiwski that put him, the Federal Conservatives and the Saskatchewan Party on the hot seat.

Even though the Conservatives lost the 1991 provincial election to the New Democrats they didn’t abandon their anti-gay rhetoric. When the New Democrats introduced legislation in 1993 to change the Human Rights provisions to include homosexuals, the Tories attacked them inside and outside the legislature. The bill passed by a vote of 31-10. It was opposed by the 10 Conservative MLAs.

During the next provincial General Election campaign in 1995, the then Conservative Leader Bill Boyd said his party supported repealing human rights protection for homosexuals. The New Democrats were returned with a comfortable majority. The Conservatives won five seats.

I wonder, are there any more tapes filled with comments that should never have been said in the first place, but were, years and years ago. If discovered, or pulled out of the archives, whose head could be on the chopping block next?