Canada's
Conservative members of parliament have been prohibited from
commenting on the high-profile marriage next month of two
gay Royal Canadian Mounted Police constables,
according to a gag order issued by the prime
minister's office this week. The gag order went to all MPs
but was aimed at "the small minority who might say something
stupid," one caucus member said, according to a report by
the Candaian Press.
The order is the
latest in a determined effort by Prime Minister Stephen
Harper to control and limit his new government's public
messages. It follows party strategists' successful
suppression during the election campaign of outspoken
social conservatives whose opinions might have harmed
the party's climb to power.
At one of
Harper's campaign events in January, party officials
spirited a well-known anti-abortion advocate into a
back kitchen--in full view of bemused
reporters--rather than risk the local Tory candidate's
views being aired by the media.
Now the marriage
of RCMP constables Jason Tree and David Connors in
Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, appears to be causing some unease in
the prime minister's office. Several Conservative MPs
quietly confirmed they had received the gag order
after the story of the Mountie wedding received
widespread media coverage last week. (The
Advocate)
