Ontario Liberals mock anti-evolution Tory MPP
Copies of National Geographic handed out, drawing rebuke from opposition
Ontario's opposition parties say the Liberals are stooping to new lows to deflect attention from their scandals, including a police probe of allegations of corruption in a recent Sudbury byelection.
The Progressive Conservatives are fuming after the Liberals handed out copies of National Geographic with a cover article "The War on Science" to make fun of Tory Rick Nicholls, who said he doesn't believe in evolution.
- Tories distance themselves from anti-evolution MPP
- Sex ed: Kathleen Wynne fires back at PC critic
- Liberals may have broken bribery rules in byelection
Interim PC Leader Jim Wilson says the Liberals shouldn't mock Nicholls for his personal religious beliefs, calling it "a new low, even for this government."
Deputy Premier Deb Matthews says the Liberals were just having fun with Nicholls's comments on evolution and with other Tories who spoke out against Ontario's revised sex-ed curriculum.
But NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says she was disgusted by the Liberals' use of the magazine to mock Nicholls, calling it "the lowest low" to use his personal beliefs to deflect from the bribery scandals.
The opposition parties have used almost every question this week to ask Premier Kathleen Wynne about the police probe of allegations the Liberals offered a job or appointment to a Sudbury candidate to step aside a byelection Feb. 5.