Brian Pallister says Halloween threatens the integrity of children
'I hate Halloween, I always have,' says the opposition leader
Manitoba's Tory leader hates Halloween, and he always will.
Brian Pallister said so in a 19-second video that surfaced on YouTube on Oct. 29, which includes an audio recording that was anonymously edited and posted by an account named brianpallister.
The comments were taken from a recording of the Fort Whyte MLA speaking in the legislature on Nov. 24, 2014.
At the time, Pallister was talking about the NDP's PST hike, which dominated house debate in 2014. Ultimately, he was trying to draw a comparison between the tax increase and a holiday known for costumes.
"So the question becomes will Manitobans see through the disguise," Pallister said of the NDP.
The argument quickly turned bizarre when Pallister passionately reiterated his hatred for the holiday.
"I hate Halloween, I always have," he said.
"I don't like the deceit of it. I don't like the holiday and I never will. I don't like trick-or-treat … I don't think it's good for the integrity of the kids."
The following is a complete excerpt from Hansard of Pallister's comments:
"I hate Halloween; I always have. I was big as a kid and, you know, everybody knew who I was. It didn't matter what I put on, it didn't matter what costume I wore, they knew it was me–right?–but everybody else was pretty much the same size. I just couldn't tell who people were. It wasn't fun for me and I've never liked it ever since. I don't like the deceit of it. I don't like the holiday and I never will. I don't like trick or treat. I think it's–I don't think it's good for the integrity of the kids. I don't like Halloween, and what I'm seeing from these people is Halloween all over again. Trick-or-treat traitors, they jump up and down around Halloween time and say, let's change costumes. We can be somebody else now. We'll be the new, new NDP. We're going to be new, new, new. Different–oh, we'll be different now. We won't be the same as we were before. We're going to change our costumes and we're going to become something entirely different now, and Manitobans will fall for it, because, well, we fooled them before, we'll fool them again.
That's what this is all about–that's what this is all about. And let's not pretend it's anything different. So the question becomes will Manitobans see through the disguise, and I think they will. But the point is here with this motion that I'll present shortly, Mr. Speaker, I believe Manitobans should be given that opportunity now and not deprived of it by a divided, dysfunctional government."
By the time CBC learned of the video, it had 2,409 views.
This isn't the first time the Tory leader has made strange comments around a holiday. In 2013, former Winnipeg public-access television show host Natalie Pollock recorded him extending a greeting to "infidel atheists."
Transcripts of the house debate from Nov. 24, 2014 are available here.