I must say I found it particularly poignant that the article in the Guelph Mercury about Guelph Collegiate students wearing pink to speak out about bullying coincided on the same day as the article about the Guelph federal election debate. When I read through the list of slurs and comments that students endured by their bullying peers, I found myself thinking about Guelphs Conservative Candidate, Marty Burkes, comment, or rather explanation of his comments, as being “observational humour”. Describing, as he did in a published letter, the “former governor generals Adrienne Clarkson and Michalle Jean as visible minority, immigrant, former CBC commentators with odd husbands” is not humorous, it is denigrating. Both of these women held responsible positions and represented Canada with admirable integrity. Burke’s reference and tone about visible minority is shameful, and certainly is not something one would expect from a person seeking public office. It was interesting too that several students pointed out the hypocrisy of senior students who speak publicly against bullying while privately perpetrating it. The irony here is that Mr. Burke claims, if elected his party will do what’s best for Canadians. I just can’t help but wonder if that would include all Canadians.
Susan Wheeler