Talk:Helena Guergis

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Contents

[edit] Guergis's position on same-sex marriage

Here's the exact quote from The Varsity:

When the Varsity asked what they would do if they ever had to vote on the issue of same-sex marriage, they all said they would be in favour of it.
"I believe in the right to choose," said the PC's Helena Guergis, "so I would be voting in favour of it."

Which of us was paraphrasing, again? CJCurrie 21:03, 18 July 2005 (UTC)

A couple of points to my interlocutor:

(i) Many provincial candidates were posed questions about same-sex marriage during the 2003 campaign. The fact that there was no proposed provincial legislation at the time wasn't especially relevant -- the recent Ontario court decision approving same-sex marriage had made it an "issue of the day". The party leaders were questioned on the subject, as were candidates in numerous ridings.

(ii) It's true that Guergis was not quoted as saying, "I support same-sex marriage" in so many words. My considered view, however, is that the statement "I would be voting in favour of it" carries essentially the same meaning, when uttered in response to a direct question on same-sex marriage. The wording of the Varsity article doesn't appear to allow much leeway on this point. CJCurrie 22:16, 18 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] My two cents

It seems that CJCurrie's version checks out: the Varsity did report this. I will show a larger portion of the article below to show that CJCurrie is not misrepresenting or misinterpreting the article:

When the Varsity asked what they would do if they ever had to vote on the issue of same-sex marriage, they all said they would be in favour of it.
"I believe in the right to choose," said the PC's Helena Guergis, "so I would be voting in favour of it."
"I have absolutely no problem with supporting same-sex marriages," said the Liberal's Nellie Pedro.
The rest of the candidates made similar comments.

That is clear. The only question is whether the Varsity got it wrong, and mixed up Guergis's comments on another issue with that on SSM. This is possible, but evidence would have to be provided for other editors to accept this position, e.g., other statements that she made during that election. Ground Zero 22:25, 18 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Addendum

I've discovered the following quote, from another Varsity article covering the same event:

"During question period, all five candidates supported same sex marriage rights, but the unanimity ended there."[1] CJCurrie 22:39, 18 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Guergis's background

Again another error on Wikipedia - Ms. Guergis is NOT GREEK. Lets see if you fools can figure this out! You should be careful you may find yourselves slapped with a law suit or two! (posted by User:24.157.185.17)

You know ... a while ago, I saw a list of Indo-Canadian candidates in the 2004 federal election, which was put together for an Indian newspaper. One of the names on the list was James Rajotte, a Conservative MP from Alberta whose actual background is French-Canadian. Mistakes like this crop up in *all* varieties of media, not just Wikipedia -- and they don't usually result in lawsuit threats from the "aggrieved" parties (though it's not really clear that this counts a "grievance" in any event). How many times has John Kerry been described as Irish, I wonder?

In any event, thank you for your correction to the Greek Canadian page. Readers should be aware, however, that the error in question had nothing to do with the information on Guergis's bio page, nor with the controversy in the previous section of this discussion page. CJCurrie 00:45, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Pronounciation

Are you sure it's Hel-EE-na? She's actually introduced herself to me, and I thought she said He-LAY-na. Maybe I heard wrong. --curling rock Earl Andrew - talk 02:59, 11 July 2006 (UTC)