TORONTO, February 15, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) — Parents’ rights advocate Tanya Granic Allen put rival Christine Elliott on the spot over parental rights in the first Ontario Conservative leadership debate Thursday.
Granic Allen faced off against Elliott, Doug Ford, Caroline Mulroney in an hour-long TVO debate hosted by Steve Paikin that was streamed live on Twitter and will be televised on TVO tonight at 8:00 p.m. Watch the entire debate below.
A mother of four and president of Parents As First Educators, Granic Allen asked Elliott why as a Conservative MPP she co-sponsored a bill outlawing treatment for children confused about their gender. Bill 77, also sponsored by New Democrat MPP Cheri DiNovo, was passed unanimously by 52 MPPs in April 2015.
“Parents were upset about that because that decision and that vote that you made overrode parental choice,” Granic Allen told Elliott. “So now parents who have a gender confused child can’t seek out that therapy because you voted for that bill and it passed.”
“I want to be an advocate to make sure that everyone can have a voice at Queens Park, not everybody lives the same kind of life, I respect that,” Elliott told Granic Allen.
“Yeah, but at the same time you don’t have to get rid of, you don’t have to erode parental choice. If a parent has a child who needs some therapy, why should politicians be making decisions that will limit the parents’ options for therapy for that child?” said Granic Allen.
“I have always thought that parents should be involved in making those decisions,” said Elliott.
“Then why did you co-sponsor that bill?” persisted Granic Allen.
Watch the exchange here:
Bill 77 banned “any practice that seeks to change or direct the sexual orientation or gender identity of a patient under 18 years of age, including efforts to change or direct the patient’s behaviour or gender expression.”
It also removed coverage by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan for change therapy for adults.
Granic Allen said in the debate she would repeal the controversial sex-ed curriculum that the Kathleen Wynne Liberal government rolled out in all the province’s publicly funded schools in the fall 2015 despite massive parental backlash.
Watch the entire debate:
Campaign Life Coalition, Canada’s national pro-life, pro-family political lobbying group, has given Elliott a “red light” rating as not supportable. Elliott also co-sponsored the NDP’s Bill 33, which granted biological males the legal right to enter female washrooms and change rooms and was passed in 2012.
Granic Allen confirmed in a press scrum following the TVO debate that she has successfully raised the $100,000 entry fee the party required her to deposit one day before deadline.
The 37-year-old mother of four says she entered the leadership race to be a voice for the grassroots party members —social conservatives, sex-ed opponents, and free-speech advocates — who have disenfranchised in the party under the leadership of Patrick Brown.
Brown resigned January 25 amid allegations of sexual misconduct that he denies, leaving the PC Party facing a leadership race less than four months from the June 7 general election.
Party members will vote online for a new leader March 2 to 8, with the result announced March 10.
Campaign Life Coalition is backing Granic Allen in the race, and is urging Ontarians to sign up as members of the PC Party before 11:59 p.m. on Friday, February 16 to be able to vote in the leadership race. To buy a membership, go here.
Campaign Life is also asking supporters to donate to Granic Allen’s campaign, which can be done here.