The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 17

rvr '-w ft ft -m OBS mm i i mM mm 11 1 v. i EEVER THE OTTAWA CITIZEN, SATURDAY, JANUARY 23, 1999 SECTION etar aniresto li ki wn mm mm mm i a I.I El II istfi TOT VNC ,11, II i A renegade band of pie-throwing activists wages war on the political and the pompous. Is it clever comedy or tasteless terrorism? Andrew Duffy reports. if I trr- 1 I I is: r. "3 IV ,1 I 1 1 i Vv i t' I 1 si'' 1 -s 1 I 1 -1 Human Resources Minister Pierre Pettigrew, left, was Les Entartistes' latest victim this week.

Alliance Quebec's William Johnson, right, says pies are funny but throwing them shouldn't be encouraged. a political symbol, the humble pie is stuffed with meaning for "Les Entartistes," the renegade group of pie-toss- ing activists who this week struck again in Montreal. Their victim was Pierre Pettigrew, the immaculately coiffed federal Human Resources minister, whose pie-struck picture -r it shows him gasping in shock, his face dripping whipped cream played in newspapers across the country. For Les Entartistes, it was another successful mission in their crusade to afflict the pompous with that staple of slapstick: the cream pie. Their seven victims include Sylvester Stallone, mashed at the opening of his Planet Hollywood restaurant; Montreal Mayor Pierre Bourque and Alliance Quebec president William Johnson.

But Les Entartistes (it roughly translates as "the em-piers') are just warming to their cause. Their published list of targets names 27 people everyone from Prime Minister Jean Chretien to Montreal Canadiens executive Serge Savard to Bank of Montreal CEO Matthew Barrett who may someday be whacked with cream pie like so many Stooges. "The pie gives power back to the people because so many feel powerless in the face of big politicians and industrialists," says Pope-Tart, 29, a Montreal entartiste who identifies himself only by his code name. "The pie delivers a human political message," he says. "What we're trying to say is, you work for You can't be too big for your britches or you'll get a pie in the face." Mr.

Pettigrew, victimized at a Montreal news conference, has decided not to press charges. "The minister has a very good sense of humour and, as he said when the pie was thrown, he loves dessert, but not so early in the day," said Mr. Petti-grew's spokeswoman, Bridgit Nolet. "He's not angry at all" Not everyone, though, is laughing. Some, like San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and Robert Smith, chairman of chemical giant Monsanto, consider the old cream pie routine to be decidedly unfunny.

Mr. Brown pressed charges against three of that city's pie-tossers, who were this week convicted of battery while being acquitted on the more se- iT f. pression. "A society that cannot tolerate its own court jester is heading in a dangerous direction," he says. "We find it a bit scary." The pie-tossing movement, which originated with Belgium's famous entartistes, now has "cells" in Montreal, San Francisco, New York City, Eugene, Oregon, and London, England.

The Montreal group was founded last year by Frangois Gourd, 49, an artist, street performer and six-time federal candidate for the Rhinoceros Party of Canada. Many of Les Entartistes have roots in the satirical Rhino Party, which disbanded in 1993 after the federal government introduced tough financial rules for parties seeking official status. Surprisingly, former Rhino leader Charlie McKenzie is among those who consider the act of pie tossing to be tasteless. "These people are still friends of mine, but I just don't like it," he says. "I'm not comfortable with this thing: it's very aggressive and it's violent." Although slapstick doesn't appeal to him, Mr.

McKenzie understands why pie throwing has caught on as a political movement: "The federal government has closed the door to protest parties, so people are going to find other outlets," he says. See PIES on page B2 YVONNE BERG, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN their recent engagement include pipy! 1 RPftt ALLEN MCINNIS, THE MONTREAL GAZETTE Montreal Mayor Pierre Bourque reacts to getting a pie in the face as he enters a fashion show on Crescent Street in Montreal Sept. 8, 1998. sex, please, we're Reformers rious charge of assault on a public official. The trio is to be sentenced next month.

"You can't punch me in the nose and then claim it's a political statement," Mr. Brown said after the trial. "I think a guilty verdict says you can't justify your political conduct in a free society with violence." So is a pie in the face a violent act or a comedic one? Is it lowbrow terrorism or political satire? The jury in San Francisco deliberated for more than a day on that question, ultimately sticking to the letter of the law, which in California states that battery constitutes any "offensive touching." Last month in Belgium, a court fined those responsible for the pie shot heard round the world: the Brussels attack that creamed Microsoft chairman Bill Gates. The two tossers were found guilty of "mild violence." Two other pie-throwing cases are pending in the U.S., including the pieman who rubbed Monsanto's Smith the wrong way. No one in Canada has yet been charged for pie throwing, but an RCMP spokesman said the act constitutes an offence.

"In my books, it's assault," said RCMP Sergeant Mike Gaudet. Pope-Tart regards the recent court decisions as attacks on democratic ex opinions about this very personal subject. "Thinking about the whole Bill Clinton thing, I decided it confuses the role of legislator to discuss private life on that level," says Mr. Kenney. But both recognize that America's most famous fellatee exemplifies the kind of abuse that the aphrodisiac of political power can cause.

"As a member of Parliament, there are times you may be approached by women who otherwise wouldn't approach you," says Mr. Anders, "but those are probably the ones you have to be specifically wary of." Mr. Anders, who also abstains from alcohol, feels his choice of chastity at a young age allowed him to channel his energy into other avenues, politics in particular. While his friends were out drinking or "chasing skirts," Mr. An Jl if In this age of presidential promiscuity, an Eccentric minority' of politicos chooses chastity.

Glen McGregor dares to ask why. Lawm Reform aide Logan Day and his fiancee, Juliana Thiessen, say the rules of abstaining from sex until after their Aug. 21 wedding. backbenches of the House of Commons, where he is joined by another Alberta MP, Rob Anders, who also opts for a life without sex. With their seemingly antiquated views, both MPs find themselves aligned with chastity advocate the Challenge Team.

They echo the group's mantra of fostering respect for a "healthy sexuality" by abstaining from sex outside marriage. "Chastity is not about not having sex," says the Challenge Team's Harold Visser. "It's about saying, 'Sex is something very significant, so I want to have sex at a time in my life that's truly The secular organization, which operates out of borrowed office space in Sandy Hill, sends its volunteer members across the country each spring to speak in high schools and elementary schools about the advantages of chaste living. They talk about prevention of disease and pregnancy chastity brings, but stress the freedom to plan for the future and build good relationships that, Mr. Visser claims, the lifestyle affords young people.

The group funds these chastity drives with honorariums from the groups it addresses, and would like to make those donations tax-deductible by winning charity status from Revenue Canada. But the government claimed the Challenge Team taught a one-sided approach to sex education. Because of bias," Revenue Canada disqualified the group as an educational organization and rejected the application for charity status. Now, with Mr. Kenney failing to The twin virtues of charity and chastity intertwined in a most personal way for Reform MP Jason Kenney last month when he confronted a group of bureaucrats at Revenue Canada.

Shortly before Christmas, Mr. Kenney came to RevCan's Ottawa headquarters to protest the way the department treats registered charitable organizations. As the public servants listened politely, he complained about their decision to revoke the charity status of two anti-abortion groups, and the refusal to grant charity status to an Ottawa-based organization that educates school children about chastity. These are important causes for Mr. Kenney, who not only opposes abortion, but also counts himself among a small number of Reform party members who have chosen a lifestyle of chastity, abstaining from sex outside wedlock.

As Mr. Kenney, 30, has never married, this commitment means refraining from sex completely. Although he's not entirely comfortable about discussing his chastity choice in a public forum, Mr. Kenney allows the decision takes root in his strongly held religious beliefs. "I'm a practising Catholic and I take the teachings of my church pretty seriously when it comes to applying them to myself," says Mr.

Kenney. In an age of polyamory, promiscuity and presidential fellatio, Mr. Kenney admits his choice to abstain from physical love puts him among what many consider an "eccentric minority." But he is not alone among Reform party ranks, nor even in the Reform convince the bureaucrats to grant status, Mr. Visser has no other recourse than to take his case to federal court. As his organization cannot afford a lawyer, he expects to represent himself in court, perhaps as early as May.

His chances in court seem remote. In March, the same court found in Revenue Canada's favour when they revoked the charity status of anti-abortion group Human Life International in a case that raises some of the same issue the Challenge Team will address. At the very least, the Challenge Team appeal could pump the group's public profile in the absence of public figures speaking out on their behalf. Though not secretive about their chastity, neither Mr. Kenney nor Mr.

Anders believes they should use their positions as MPs to advance their own ders felt no such distraction and, as a result, he says, he was able to get elected MP at the age of 25. "I just decided it wouldn't be fair to a woman I was involved with to be involved sexually and leading them on with no intentions to settle down," explains Mr. Anders of his chaste choice. He concedes that his policy "probably deprived me of a few interesting experiences along the path, but I've had good relations with all the girls I've dated. None of them have ever felt jaded because I had used them sexually." The chaste Reformers recently found an ally in abstinence in another party member, Logan Day, son of Alberta treasurer Stockwell Day and controversial aide to Reform MP Cliff Breitkreuz.

See CHASTITY on page B2.