Tanya Granic Allen, a social conservative and outspoken opponent of the province's sex education curriculum, has been taken off the PC ballot in Mississauga Centre just over a month before Ontarians go to the polls. Allen, then an Ontario PC leadership candidate, arrives to participate in a debate in Ottawa on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

I hate to say, “I told you so,” but I’m afraid I really did tell you so. I’ve twice written columns here about the extremist views held by former Ontario PC Party leadership candidate Tanya Granic Allen, and now this opponent of same-sex marriage, abortion rights, and Ontario’s sex ed curriculum has finally been jettisoned by Doug Ford as the high-profile candidate for Mississauga Centre.

In a shock announcement on Saturday, the Tory leader stated that, “Tanya Granic Allen will no longer be a candidate for Ontario PC Party. We are a party comprised of people with diverse views that, if expressed responsibly, we would respect. However, the fact is her characterization of certain issues and people has been irresponsible. Our party remains focused on defeating Kathleen Wynne and bringing relief to families across Ontario.”

Fair enough of course, if somewhat hypocritical, but the real questions are why now, and will it hurt or hinder Ford and his party? The reality is that Granic Allen’s harsh, hard opinions have been well known for years – it’s the very reason she came to prominence, and why she could gain such active support, that she then threw behind Ford, thus enabling him to become party leader. In the very first televised leadership debate, Allen sat a yard away from Ford and emphasized her social conservatism, even making a bizarre reference to the teaching of anal sex in Ontario’s schools!

Last month it was revealed that she’d mocked the wearing of the niqab and burka, tweeting that, “I don’t believe people should dress like ninjas.” That revelation earned a rebuke from the party, but she remained a candidate.

Now a 2014 speech to a Croatian Catholic meeting has come to light, where Granic Allen explained there that there was an attempt in Croatia to “push radical sexual education on the young or gay marriage – you know I almost vomit in disbelief. I’m like, ‘Are you kidding me?’” A quote from 2000 was also made public recently, in which she allegedly said that she feels like a survivor of an “abortion holocaust” in Canada, and that “If the Jews were still being killed, there would be a debate in this country.”

The first comment is crass and vulgar, but entirely consistent with her public opinions. The second displays an appalling insensitivity, but again is typical of the anti-abortion movement, where attempts are made to draw moral parallels between Nazi mass slaughter, and a woman’s right to choose. Again, however, none of this comes as much of a surprise.

But in politics, just as in war, timing is everything. The election officially begins this week, and as it does the PCs have effectively announced to traditionally moderate Ontarians that the party is not as extreme as they thought, and that people like Tanya Granic Allen have no place in their mild-mannered ranks. It’s all show of course, and there are several other candidates running who oppose equal marriage, sex ed, and abortion rights.

But it looks good, and the people running the Ford campaign have long been profoundly worried about Granic Allen being elected, embarrassing the party, and stealing the media limelight. There’s a very good chance, in fact, that this had been planned for some time. As one MPP said to me two weeks ago, “Tanya has a bit of a Messiah complex, is not a team player, and can do us a great deal of damage.”

Whether her treatment will hurt the party is open to debate. Campaign Life Coalition vice president Jeff Gunnarson said over the weekend that, “If Doug Ford has declared war on Social Conservatives we’re ready to do battle. We have ten thousand paid up troops. They are trained, they are eager and they will strike when given the word. This is the worst mistake Ford has made and will make on this campaign. He’s going to eat that decision.”

Risibly strong words, and it’s one thing for social conservatives to flood a party membership and influence a leadership content, quite another for them to make a dent on a provincial election. The seats where they have a following are generally solidly PC anyway, and their people refusing to vote for the party will make little difference. They’re not going to vote Liberal or NDP, and the right-wing fringe parties are irrelevant. In fact, Patrick Brown did the same thing after he became leader, with the support of the hard right. Once in charge he rejected their support, and did all that he could to remove social conservative candidates. Granic Allen made that point repeatedly, but has now become a victim of the policy; not because of the hated Patrick Brown, but the beloved Doug Ford.

The socons will be making a lot of noise in the next few days about all this, but the volume will fade, and everybody will move on. It’s déjà vu all over again, Ontario Tory style. Sorry Tanya, you probably feel – well – rather sick.