Virtuous peas

No, its not yet another NDP or Green candidate-gone-wild. Its the supposedly staid Conservative Party who today is dealing with the blogospheric rantings (via Jerad Gallinger) of Ryan Warawa, the unlikely CPC candidate for Vancouver-East challenging the indefatigable and can't-be-defeated Libby Davies.

MacKay fails miserably in my integrity and honesty litmus test Ryan Warawa, soon to be fired CPC candidate

Ryan - a former Young BC Liberal - failed to win the Conservative nomination for a potentially winnable seat in Burnaby, much like Vancouver-Kingsway CPC candidate Saloman Rayek failed to win a seat in north Burnaby. It seems as if both have received counsel that running in the hinterlands of east Vancouver will build them character and improve their chances in grabbing a nomination elsewhere in the future. Certainly they'll earn some character but not many votes.

Then again, perhaps Ryan's views fit in with the eastside of Vancouver, or the NDP or Marijuana Party or the Communists:

“I in principle favour government legalizing prostitution — forcing the sex trade into brothels.”

“I favour decriminalization of both marijuana and prostitution…” Ryan Warawa

Shocking, isn't it? Warawa directly contradicting the policy of the government of the day. Earlier this year Justice Minister Rob Nicholson and Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day specifically rejected the notion of decriminalization (Feb. 7 2008).

Imagine, a Conservative candidate stumping for legal paid sex and pot. What is this world coming to?

What's amazing is that in another urban centre - Toronto - Conservatives pushed a candidate out for uttering far less radical thoughts. Conservative candidate of record Mark Warner was shoved out of Toronto Centre in the fall of 2007. Mr. Warner's sin? He was a self-confessed "Red Tory", which for most of us former Progressive Conservatives simply means that taking a pragmatic, socially progressive, fiscally conservative, stance is natural.

Yet, so far, Warawa is still a candidate. In the Conservative Party its not what you say but who you know or share blood with. Conservative vetting rules don't count when your dad (Mark Warawa) is a member of the holier-than-thou community of extra-urban B.C. government-side members of parliament.

There is one thing Ryan and I can agree upon: Peter "I am not the merger candidate" MacKay can't be trusted. You know what? Ryan Warawa aside there are at least three people in Canada who want to see Elizabeth May triumph in Pictou-Antigonish over Peter MacKay: (1) me, (2) Elizabeth May, and (3) Stephen Harper (the dark lord himself).