Posted on 06/28/2005 7:19:43 PM PDT by Heartofsong83
Same-sex marriage bill passes in Commons CTV.ca News Staff
Canada will become the third country in the world to officially sanction same-sex marriage.
In a 158 to 133 vote, the House of Commons adopted Bill C-38 -- the controversial legislation legalizing same-sex marriage from coast to coast -- on its third and final reading Tuesday night.
The Liberals had the support of almost all New Democrat and Bloc Quebecois MPs for the vote.
The bill will become official once it receives approval in the Senate. An earlier Conservative motion to send the bill back to committee was voted down 158 to 127.
The decision marks the end of a long and divisive debate, with fierce opposition coming from Conservative members, religious groups, and even members of the Liberal Party. Opponents are vowing to keep up the fight against the C-38, which changes the traditional definition of marriage to one that includes same-sex couples.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper is promising that he won't let the issue rest; he says he'll revisit the new law if he becomes the next prime minister. He also repeated Tuesday his claim that the law lacks legitimacy because it passed with the support of the separatist Bloc party.
"I don't think Canadians are going to accept as a final word a decision taken by only a minority of federalist MPs," he said. But Harper didn't specify how he would address the issue if the Tories were to form the next government.
Liberal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler said Harper is going to have to come clean and acknowledge that he would have to invoke the Constitution's notwithstanding clause to override the new law.
"They're going to have to acknowledge that they want to override the (Charter of Rights), override constitutional-law decisions in nine jurisdictions in this country; override a unanimous decision of the Supreme Court of Canada; override the rule of law in this country," Cotler said.
The clause is available to provinces to override federal laws that intrude on provincial jurisdiction.
But almost every provincial and territorial government has already legalized same-sex marriage; and the new legislation will ensure that the four "hold-out" jurisdictions that yet haven't -- Alberta, Prince Edward Island, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories -- now must.
"It's an historic moment, it's about equality for gays and lesbians," said NDP MP Libby Davies.
Alberta Premier Ralph Klein, who is "strongly opposed" to the bill on moral grounds, acknowledged Tuesday that little can be done to stop same-sex marriages in his province.
"Since this is federal legislation, to use the notwithstanding clause as contained in our own Marriage Act would be frivolous," Klein told reporters in Calgary. "It wouldn't stand up in any court of law. So there are some other options that we would have to consider."
Klein said although some members of his caucus are threatening to use every legal weapon at their disposal to get around the legislation, "there are no legal weapons; there's nothing left in the arsenal."
As expected, about 30 Liberal MPs voted against the measure tonight. Martin declared it a free vote for backbench MPs, but cabinet ministers were under orders to vote in favour of the bill.
On Tuesday, a junior cabinet minister chose to resign and return to the backbenches rather than vote in favour of same sex marriage.
Joe Comuzzi, the minister of state for economic development in northern Ontario, informed the prime minister of his decision in the early morning.
"I promised faithfully to the people of Thunder Bay-Superior North that I would defend the traditional definition of marriage," he explained to reporters on Parliament Hill.
With a report from CTV News
Instead of just the Western part of Canada, l think we should take the whole enchilada. We need the energy reserves and the water.
Only Quebec and a few urban core areas (like Toronto) hate Americans.
Best to fly Old Glory alongside your provincial flag now.
Minus Quebec I hope. They are the drain of Canada, stopping the Moral Majority in its tracks.
All part of the master plan to export the liberals to Canada.
You should all take the "gay test" on brokennewz.com before being too critical. This test will tell you if you need to go out and buy a sixpack of Stout, or a case of wine coolers.
Solution: Lets Gay Marry up Canadian and USA gay-lesbo couples and all their liberal supporters and let them settle in Quebec. Then let the rest of Canada secede and hook up with the USA. Let them in Quebec all create a Gay Utopian society and leave the rest of us alone in USA/Canada who want to lead normal conservative healthy lifestyles.
Perfect solution!!!
Even in the "blue states", the majority oppose gay marriage. Quebec is in a class by itself.
From here:
What are the fundamental [human] rights that Mary Robinson says all nations must recognise?
One, they include the repeal of all laws condemning homosexual sodomy.
Two, the legalisation of same-sex marriages.
Three, mandatory and graphic sexual training for children. She has three paragraphs on the last of these. She says the training has to include instruction, beginning when the child's at the age of 10, on how to engage in sexual intercourse with members of the same sex. Since this will of necessity be graphic, she says, "such materials should be exempted from pornography and obscenity laws".
Four, she says that all laws regulating prostitution must be eliminated. Prostitution, in short, must be legalised.
Five, she says that the age of consent for all sexual activities should be lowered to 14.
Finally, and most troublingly, she says: "There must be creation of penalties for anyone who vilifies individuals engaged in same-sex relationships." In short, it's not enough simply to normalise, in one fell swoop, all of international law related to homosexuality. We have to provide penalties.
What are the penalties she's talking about? Might it be the International Criminal Court? Turn to the guidelines on page 14, which emphasise the need for "the sensitisation of judicial branches of governments, both nationally and internationally." She suggests we need to "provide judicial education and the development of judicial materials".
Duke of Beaufort Since Jun 29, 2005
Signed up tomorrow to make this first post.
If a Canadian had suggested the U.S would do this,
I'd give him proper hell for defaming the U.S. and her people,
and for having no understanding of the principles that underlie America's greatness.
Welcome to FR, eh?
This has also really made me support Quebec separatism as well. Support for gay marriage in Quebec is 20 percentage points higher than in any other province (British Columbia, split to 55% opposed), and more than 40 percentage points higher that in the Prairie Provinces (70-75% opposed).
Even in supposedly 'tolerant' Ontario, over 60% oppose gay marriage. It is probably more like 70% outside the GTA.
So yous gotcha problem wid yourn southern border 2 eh?
heh heh :>)
They can take it one step further and "GO $#)* themselves".
I believe that's what the passage of the Act ensures.
This will be an issue in the next federal election, mark my words...
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