Noah's man

>> A local Canadian Alliance leadership candidate presents some peculiar views on running the country

by PATRICK LEJTENYI

The Canadian Alliance, we all know, is well stocked with gun nuts, anti-abortionists, bible-thumpers, and probably more than a handful of creationists. But are they ready for a Noachian?

As Shiloh Quinn--née Bernard Patrick Quinn III, Verdun native, anti-monarchist, sovereignty-associationist, briefly U.S. Marine, former Las Vegas newspaper owner, PR man, sports promoter, chronic name-dropper and Canadian Alliance leadership hopeful--explains it, Noachians believe the laws of Noah (he of Ark fame) supersede all other laws, including Moses' Ten Commandments. They are the keys for world peace, total inclusion of all peoples and finally getting noisy Quebec to give it a rest.

"There is one reason why I chose the Canadian Alliance," says Quinn, 56. "The word 'alliance' is first used in [the French translation of] Genesis 9, the story of Noah's Ark, God's gift of the rainbow to the world, and the seven laws for the world to follow. Those are the Noachian laws."

God, according to Genesis 9, used the rainbow as a symbol for his "no more flooding, I swear" deal with Noah. Quinn's campaign logo is a fleur-de-lys set within a maple leaf at the head of a '70s-style rainbow comet, which he first designed while musing on whether to run for the Progressive Conservative leadership in 1998.

Quinn, who is vague about his employment status but says he is trying to bring a giant replica of Noah's Ark to the slopes of Mount Royal, takes some odd stances for a Canadian Alliance member: he's anti-monarchist ("How are they reaching out to Quebec by making the French pledge allegiance to the Queen?" he asks. "Gimme a break! We've come of age. We're no longer affiliated to Britain."); pro-sovereignty-association ("Does Quebec really want to give up Canada? The new solution is called Quebec-Canada, which would symbolically intertwine them both, like a rainbow."); secular ("We mention God in our constitution, but we haven't defined God. What God? Who is this God? You can't be an atheist? At least define it. Or remove it."); and pro-world peace ("The Palestinians and Israel are ready for sovereignty-association. We have to be ready to recognize the occupied lands as occupied lands.").

Quinn also has an original view on international affairs, and is familiar with the problems of the Middle East. Although he was shooed away by organizers from the Palestinian and Jewish Unity (PAJU) Vigil in Black in front of the Israeli consulate on Friday, he does support the cause. He says he has spent time in the region, does public affairs for Canadian-published The Arab Pioneers magazine, and converted to Judaism before his wedding in 1980. Look to the Old Testament, he says, and peace will come.

"Jews, Christians and Muslims all believe in the book of Moses," he says. "Judaism, Christianity and Islam must come together. You're either for uniting the world and fulfilling the prophecy of Abraham or you're against it."

For his quirks, Quinn does think he can be a potent force and brims with confidence. He hopes his positions will unite francophone Canada behind him, swell the CA with his supporters, and change the very nature of the party from within. He is unilingually English, but his gifts of compromise and persuasion (according to him) will at least give his ideas some prominence.

"Will they make me leader? I doubt it," he says. "But it may stimulate them to make something better."