昨天(1月20日)的Toronto Star在B4版刊登了他对此事的报道文章：
Different language, different message
Subtle attacks on gay marriage in Chinese, Korean
English section of pamphlet doesn't even raise issue
Jan. 20, 2006.
PETER GORRIE
STAFF REPORTER
______________________________________________________
Same-sex. Different message.
Basic politics? Or cheap politics?
In a written message to voters who read Chinese and Korean, the Conservative candidate in Willowdale riding subtly attacks same-sex marriage and the Liberals who support it.
The English-language section of the same campaign pamphlet, distributed by Jovan Boseovski, doesn't mention the issue.
"The Liberal party passed the same-sex marriage act so our next generation are exposed to this subject in school classrooms and through the media," the pamphlet tells Chinese Canadians, who make up nearly one-quarter of the North York riding's population.
In Chinese, the wording implies that the issue would infect the minds of young people.
It's also a reminder that Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has promised a free vote in the House of Commons on whether last year's legalization of gay and lesbian civil marriages should be overturned.
Last year, most Liberal MPs, as well as all but one New Democrat and every member of the Bloc Québécois voted in favour of legalizing same-sex marriage.
"I'm very angry," says J., 35, a gay resident of the riding. "They make a wrong assumption about the Chinese people, and they're trying to hide something.
"I don't like it."
"Most Chinese people (and even their parents) are not religious and they don't have that homophobic gene in their blood," Jian says in an email to Boseovski. "According to my experience, not a single Chinese friend to whom my partner and I came out has shied away from us."
Why the differing messages?
"We thought it would have a different impact" in the Asian communities, says local campaign manager J.T. Boseovski. "The Chinese community is generally more conservative on such matters.
"There are mixed feelings ... so we decided not to put it in English."
A spokesperson at Conservative party headquarters in Ottawa calls it "just basic politics."
"Every candidate should know, and wants to know, what his constituents support and will focus on those issues," says Scott Brownrigg. "Every candidate speaks to their constituents and tailors their message accordingly."
But Boseovski's Liberal opponent, incumbent Jim Peterson, says it's "cheap politics."
"I don't think people go for that. I think they expect me to say the same thing to everybody ... I believe that's important."
The NDP's Rochelle Carnegie says she can't afford translated messages.
If she could, she says they wouldn't vary.
"People are the same. If I'm talking about child care or same-sex marriage, it's the same message, whatever the community is."
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