In the United States, when a politician refuses to admit he accepts evolution, he’s still considered a plausible candidate for President.
In Canada, when a politician doubts evolution, he’s laughed off the public stage:
An Ontario Tory’s statement that he doesn’t believe in evolution has puzzled and frustrated his fellow Conservatives who admitted Wednesday that stance doesn’t help a party trying to rebuild after four consecutive election defeats.
Progressive Conservative Rick Nicholls raised eyebrows in the legislature Tuesday when he responded to a Liberal taunt by saying opting out of teaching students evolution “was not a bad idea.”
…
Interim PC leader Jim Wilson insisted Nicholls’s views on evolution were not representative of Ontario Tories, and admitted the outburst “obviously didn’t help” a party in the midst of a leadership race.
“He’s entitled to his opinion, but it’s not shared by the majority of caucus members that I know of,” said Wilson. “It’s the first I’ve ever heard of it actually.”
I’m just shocked by the reaction… not because I know much about Canadian politics, but because Nicholls’ party colleagues rushed to distance themselves from his remarks. They saw his anti-science rhetoric as something that could harm their party.
Meanwhile, ignoring settled science is essentially part of the GOP platform these days.
(Image via Wikipedia. Thanks to @theprawnatron for the link)
