(Orillia) – Simcoe North MPP Garfield Dunlop today promised to continue his fight to defend parliamentary tradition and keep the Lord’s Prayer in the Ontario legislature. This time, Dunlop’s adversary is Premier Dalton McGuinty and his Liberal government, who yesterday announced plans out of the blue to scrap the Lord’s Prayer.

“Dalton McGuinty is willing to sacrifice a longstanding and well accepted tradition of the Ontario legislature in exchange for votes,” said Dunlop. “He has shamefully transformed a non-partisan parliamentary reform exercise into a full-blown attempt at personal political gain.”

“With this plan, the Premier is also desperately trying to shift attention from the real issues of concern to Ontarians,” added Dunlop. “He is more concerned about when people will get an extra holiday and what people will do in a legislature that won’t even be in session until March 17th, than he is about people getting health care services when they need them, or people losing their jobs while Ontario’s economy weakens.”

Dunlop has been one of the most active and vocal defenders of using the Lord’s Prayer to open each sitting of the Ontario legislature. In 2000, he collected more than 11,000 signatures on a petition asking that use of the Lord’s Prayer continue. Dunlop launched the petition after the Ontario Court of Appeal ordered Penetanguishene town council to stop opening its meetings with the Lord’s Prayer.

Dunlop is preparing a new petition to save the Lord’s Prayer that will be available for signature beginning next week at his constituency offices in Orillia and Midland and on his web site (www.garfielddunlopmpp.com).

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Contact:
Garfield Dunlop
(705) 327-4500 (cell)