You gotta have faith... (Part 2)

Oh, John Tory. Are you trying to sink your own campaign?

According to The Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star (and various other outlets), the Progressive Conservative leader told reporters today:

"They teach evolution in the Ontario curriculum but they also could teach
the facts to the children that there are other
theories that people have out
there that are part of some Christian beliefs,"

Media headlines are now reading "Creationism raised as an Ont. election issue" and "Tory ignites debate over creationism in schools", etc. And as much as Tory is attempting to clarify that remark now, stating that he meant that the theory should be taught in religion classes, the soundbite has likely caused considerable damage to his own campaign. This incident, along with support for publicly funded faith-based schools, has changed his image from reasoned politician to backward bible-thumper.

The link to teaching creationism in science classes rather than religious ones came up when he mentioned "evolution" in the same breath - which could lead one to believe that his "clarification" is actually backtracking.

In terms of public reaction, however, there haven't been any polls yet on how the candidates are doing, only some angry rantings in the "Comments" section of news publications. I'll reserve my judgement on how well the Liberals are doing until after the numbers are released, but so far, I think Tory's done enough to divide his own base.