"I have not often encountered such comments in print. I have not often encountered such comments from someone who has the responsibility of elected office in this country... In the heart of this beautiful country, amongst these really good people, we had Mr. Gilchrist making comments that have damaged his community's reputation and, I think, damaged the social fabric of this province... Mr. Gilchrist wrote an apology. He called it an apology. He said his remarks were "interpreted" as racist. He said his remarks were "matters of citizenship and not those of racism." Well, Mr. Gilchrist, I don't know if you're watching and I don't know if someday you will read this transcript. But I want to say to you that unless you recognize that your remarks were in their very nature racist and not a question of interpretation, then you will not be able to apologize to people and you will not able to make the amends that are necessary to be made...It was interesting to me, reading his so-called apology, that all his comments about immigrants who were damaging this country were illustrated by remarks about non-European immigrants. He made no slanderous statements about American, Dutch or British immigrants. It was very clear in his letter which immigrants were the target of his anger, his distaste... Mr. Gilchrist, you have to act to heal this damage. You should not be in a position of authority on an elected body in this province, and you should resign... To make a society successful, to make it work, we have to be on guard against its being poisoned, against its being destabilized. It has to be nourished. It has to be kept in balance. It has to be strengthened. Attacks that incite racial division, that demoralize us, that pull us apart, damage the very fabric of our society... Make no mistake: He has already damaged this community and caused division. Talk to the Peterborough Examiner, look at their letters-to-the-editor page, look at the comments that are being made: deep division. That's why we, here in this Legislature, cannot be silent on the matter. That's why I ask for his resignation... The district school board can't force him to resign. Electors hire us; electors fire us. No one can force him to resign, but he could resign, and the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board could make it very clear not only that they censure him-which they have done, to their credit-they need to go that next step and say, "We would be very happy to accept your resignation." --MPP Peter Tabuns, Toronto-Danforth
