Let the Circus Begin! - Same-Sex Marriage Debate Opens in Candian Parliament

[RACooper]

Martin, Harper face off in parliamentary debate over gay marriage
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...a/gay_marriage

OTTAWA (CP) - Prime Minister Paul Martin and Conservative Leader Stephen Harper squared off Wednesday as Parliament kicked off debate on the Liberal gay marriage bill.

Martin, who has promised a free vote on the issue, told the House of Commons that it's a matter of protecting minority rights.

"I rise in support of a Canada in which liberties are safeguarded, rights are protected and the people of this land are treated as equals under the law."

He also emphasized that the bill respects religious rights by not forcing churches to perform same-sex unions.

Harper countered that it's possible to guarantee minority rights while protecting the traditional definition of marriage. He said the Supreme Court didn't say traditional marriage is unconstitutional.

Harper proposed civil unions or partnerships which would guarantee gays the same rights as marriage.

He also said it's "staggering" that some Liberals accuse the Conservatives of being bigots for opposing gay marriage given that they voted in support of traditional marriage as recently as 1999.

A majority of provincial courts have ruled that denying marriage to gays is unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that Ottawa has exclusive jurisdiction to decide who has the right to marry. It also said religious groups are not obliged to perform unions against their beliefs.

The bill is expected to pass this spring with the support of most Liberal, Bloc Quebecois and New Democrat MPs, along with a few Conservatives.

Most Conservatives oppose the bill, and many Liberals also have deep reservations and may break ranks with Martin when the matter is put to a free vote.

[RACooper]

Nfld.'s Conservative premier speaks out in support of gay marriage
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp.../nfld_same_sex

Thu Feb 17, 9:03 PM ET
DENE MOORE

ST. JOHN'S, Nfld. (CP) - Danny Williams, Newfoundland's outspoken Conservative premier, said he supported same-sex marriage Thursday, offering a rationale that is diametrically opposed to the position taken by federal Conservative Leader Stephen Harper. With Harper once again under fire for his stance on the controversial issue, Williams split with his federal counterpart to say he personally supports the rights of gays and lesbians to legally wed.


"From a personal perspective, I actually support gay marriages," Williams said in an interview.

"I practised law for over 30 years and championed social justice and believed in minority rights and believed in the rights and freedoms of individuals under our Charter of Rights."

Williams was careful not to criticize Harper but his comments suggest the division dogging the Liberals on gay marriage is also creating a widening rift within Tory ranks.

Harper, like most Conservatives, has vowed to fight the Liberal government's proposed legislation to alter the legal definition of marriage.

"Same-sex marriage is not a human right," Harper said during debate on the controversial bill Wednesday.

"In my view, the onus is on those who want to overturn such a fundamental social institution to prove that it is absolutely necessary, and that there is no other compromise that can respect the rights of same-sex couples while still preserving one of the cornerstones of our society."

Williams said he would not impose his opinions on his provincial caucus and believes the federal leader shouldn't either.

"The problem occurs when there's an attempt to basically influence other people or exert your own influence and your own opinion on others in your party and not give them the right to choose and the right to express their opinions freely," he said in a telephone interview from Corner Brook, Nfld.

"I don't see that happening in this party."

Harper has said members of his caucus who intend to speak about the issue in the Commons must first submit their speeches for review by his office.

Meanwhile, Liberal cabinet ministers have been ordered to support the controversial bill but the government has said it would be a free vote for others.

Still, some members of the Liberal caucus have accused the government of trying to quash dissent.

Williams said the outcome of the debate in Ottawa has no bearing in his province, where the Newfoundland Supreme Court has already ruled that a ban on gay marriage violated the Charter of Rights.

The province became the eighth jurisdiction in Canada to allow same-sex marriage in December, following the ruling.

On Thursday, there was quick reaction to Harper's latest comments, particularly from those in favour of the legislation.

Pat Case, chairman of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, blasted the Conservative leader for suggesting the legalization of same-sex marriage is the "latest fad" of the Liberal government.



"To brush off this very important issue . . . is the government's fad du jour is disrespectful to the important work we do every day," Case said.

A national director of the National Association of Japanese Canadians said it was wrong-headed for Harper to cite the internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War as an example of Liberal violations of human rights.

"Mr. Harper is resorting to cheap political shots at deceased politicians rather than facing the inconsistency of his position on human rights," Audrey Kobayashi said in a statement released Thursday.

The bill will likely be voted on by June.

[RACooper]

Bitter attacks open debate on same-sex
By BRIAN LAGHI
Thursday, February 17, 2005 Updated at 8:09 AM EST
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...tory/National/

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper tried to paint Paul Martin's party with a legacy of intolerance as the same-sex-marriage debate began in Parliament, saying a Liberal government interned Japanese Canadians and closed the borders to Jews fleeing Nazi Germany.

"Let us not forget, it is the Liberal Party that said 'none is too many,' when it came to Jews fleeing from Hitler," Mr. Harper said yesterday.

"It is the Liberal Party that interned Japanese Canadians in camps on Canada's West Coast, an act which [former prime minister] Pierre Trudeau refused to apologize or make restitution for."

Mr. Harper dredged up the 60-year-old events just after the Prime Minister questioned the sincerity of those who would ban gay marriage, saying opponents refuse to admit that it would take the invocation of the Constitution's notwithstanding clause to do it.

"They have eschewed the honest approach in favour of the political approach," Mr. Martin told the Commons. "They have attempted to cajole the public into believing that we can return to the past with a simple snap of the fingers, that we can revert to the traditional definition of marriage without consequence and without overriding the Charter [of Rights and Freedoms]."

The speeches were the first blasts in a battle that promises to be long and hot, as Mr. Harper marshals his forces to fight the Liberal legislation. Most Conservative MPs oppose the bill, and up to 90 are expected to speak on it. Although most observers believe the bill will pass, some Liberal MPs are opposed to it, and Mr. Martin's decision yesterday to speak first on the matter demonstrated the importance Liberals place on the bill. Same-sex marriage is legal in seven provinces and one territory, and the bill would extend that across the country.

While the leaders brought little new to their parties' positions on the bill, the level of rhetoric grew when Mr. Harper said the Liberals should not try to characterize themselves as shining examples of defenders of human rights.

"The Liberal Party of Canada is simply in no position -- either past or present -- to lecture anyone about Charter rights or human rights," Mr. Harper said. He referred to Mr. Trudeau's decision to invoke the War Measures Act during the FLQ crisis.

The phrase "none is too many" was the response a Canadian government official gave while commenting on how many Jews should be accepted into Canada at the time of the Holocaust.

Mr. Martin focused less on the importance of marriage to gays than on the Charter and its protection of minorities. He warned that a government that would take away the right of gays to marry might take away other rights, as well.

"I ask you: If a prime minister and a national government are willing to take away the rights of one group, what is to say they will stop at that? If the Charter is not there today to protect the rights of one minority, then how can we, as a nation of minorities, ever hope, ever believe, ever trust that it will be there to protect us tomorrow?"

Mr. Harper argued that the bill does not protect religious minorities. Although it says religious groups would not be compelled to perform same-sex marriages, he said it does not shield a religious group that might wish, for example, to ban a gay couple from holding their wedding reception in its church hall.

He resurrected his view that the bill attacks the cultural values of ethnic minorities.

"New Canadians know that their cultural values are likely to come under attack if this law is passed."

Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe argued that gay marriage is a matter of human rights, and pointed out that homosexual men and women face discrimination that can lead to suicide.

"One thing is clear. As long as love between same-sex couples is not accepted as something completely normal and acceptable in our societies, this suffering will continue. We parliamentarians cannot end this suffering on our own, but we can send a very strong signal here in Canada and around the world by adopting this law."

New Democratic Party MP Bill Siksay said the bill goes out of its way to protect religious groups. Mr. Siksay, who is gay, said the values expressed in gay relationships are no different than the values expressed in the relationships of heterosexual couples.

[RACooper]

Harper speech stirs wide outcry
Comments during gay marriage debate roundly condemned
Insulting `to play politics with an ancient historical wrong'
Feb. 17, 2005. 06:45 AM
TONDA MACCHARLES
OTTAWA BUREAU

OTTAWA—It wasn't long before the historic parliamentary debate on same-sex marriage descended from principled claims to partisan shots, and then into surprisingly nasty exchanges on the floor of the Commons.

The barely veiled antagonism between Prime Minister Paul Martin and Opposition Leader Stephen Harper surfaced in the two leaders' speeches.

And the divisive potential of this debate over the coming days and weeks was clearly on display in remarks by other members of Parliament.

In his lead-off speech on Bill C-38, the Civil Marriage Act, the Prime Minister appealed for recognition of a legal right to marry for same-sex couples, calling it a question of equality and minority rights. He appealed to MPs' sense of history and duty.

The debate, Martin said, is "about the kind of nation we are today and the nation we want to be."

"This bill protects minority rights. This bill affirms the Charter guarantee of religious freedom. It is that straightforward and it is that important."

Martin called the bill's Conservative opponents "insincere," "disingenuous" and unwilling to admit they would have to override a fundamental Charter right to equality in order to block same-sex marriage.

He said it would require using a special "notwithstanding" clause to suspend lower-court decisions that have already changed the common-law definition and extended marriage rights to gays in seven provinces and one territory. Such a move would be a threat to all minorities, said Martin.

"If the Prime Minister and a national government are willing to take away the rights of one group what is there to say that they will stop at that?" he asked.

But Harper shot back Liberals are hypocritical and dishonest about their own positions, and accused Martin's party of "draping itself in the Charter like it drapes itself in the flag."

"Same-sex marriage is not a human right," said Harper, but a "newly invented Liberal policy" that is not akin to rights like "freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of association, equality before the law."

Harper said marriage is a foundational social unit that should not be altered, and ethnic minorities understand that, while Liberals with their "folkloristic" view of "cultural communities" don't.

The Conservative leader proposed an amendment to enshrine traditional marriage in law, while recognizing civil unions, domestic partnerships or whatever form provinces might legislate in order to give "all the rights and benefits of marriage" to same-sex couples.

He argued he would not need the override power to entrench the opposite-sex definition of marriage because for the first time, Parliament and not the courts would be defining it in law, and courts would show more "judicial deference" to a statute.

Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe spoke passionately about the stigma and historic discrimination faced by gays and lesbians that led many to suffer, some to attempt suicide.

"The debate on same-sex marriage is ultimately a question of citizenship," he said, as was the decision to recognize women as "persons" with a right to vote. "We can't claim that Quebec or Canada are just societies unless citizens are treated with complete equality."

New Democrat leader Jack Layton was absent, recovering from appendicitis surgery. NDP MP Bill Siksay spoke for his party from a personal perspective as a gay man.

He said the individuals who championed marriage rights for gays reflected the values he learned in his family, church and community, and "the importance of making a lifelong commitment." He said marriage is an institution same-sex couples want to embrace, not change.

"Gay and lesbian people cannot be considered full citizens if key institutions of our society are considered out of bounds to us."

But already the debate is full of raw emotion.

Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott, a staunch opponent of same-sex marriage, said when the vote was extended to women, "were at that point women called men?"

"You do not need to call them the same thing in order to give them equal benefits and rights, which is what our party is proposing to do," Vellacott said.

Duceppe retorted: "Women were not called men, they were called nobodies. They essentially didn't exist," he said. "Sexual orientation isn't a choice.

"And basically what you're saying to some people is that you should never have been born. I can't accept that."

Martin, who dismissed calls for a referendum on same-sex marriage, said he is a person "of strong faith" and acknowledged that four years ago he voted to support the traditional definition of marriage. His misgivings then "were a function of my faith and my perspective on the world around us.

"But much has changed since that day," he said.

[RACooper]

As you can see the political sniping and grandsatnding has already begun... and this is only day 2

Personally I can't wait until Jack Layton, the NDP leader (far left) gets out of hospital and joins the debate... he would have torn Harper a new a**hole for his comments about multi-culturalism and human rights... after-all Jack was the legal council for the Sikh RCMP officer that successfully campaigned to have his turban as part of the RCMP uniform - with Harper as the the Alliance (far right) member opposing it...

[RACooper]

Liberal Party officially endorses gay marriage as protest heats up
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...erals_same_sex

Liberal Party officially endorses gay marriage as protest heats up

44 minutes ago


SUE BAILEY AND JOAN BRYDEN

OTTAWA (CP) - The Liberal Party of Canada overwhelmingly endorsed same-sex marriage Saturday in keeping with the minority Liberal government's bid to legalize gay weddings.

Similar resolutions have been voted down in the past.

But times have changed, said one delegate after another. Those who stood up in defence of traditional marriage were clearly in the minority. A delegate who yelled: "What's next, pedophilia?" was jeered by the crowd.

The endorsement came as anti-gay marriage forces launched an attack Saturday on political targets that could well backfire.

An aggressive video and ad campaign accuses several cabinet ministers of lying about their resolve to defend traditional marriage.

The attack by the Defend Marriage Coalition of religious and pro-family groups was swiftly used by high-profile Liberals as a platform to defend and promote their move to legalize gay weddings.

Those singled out include Immigration Minister Joe Volpe, Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan and Natural Resources Minister John Efford.

All three used the resulting media attention Saturday at the Liberal policy convention to advance the government's position.

Volpe thanked the Defend Marriage Coalition for giving him a chance to outline in repeated interviews how he helped craft legislation that respects equality rights while not forcing churches to perform weddings against their beliefs.

[Tom Earp]

OKAY, Your point is made!