Colby Cosh: Put your money on a victory for polygamy

National Post ^ | January 10, 2009 | Colby Cosh

[Loyalist]

If you’d asked me last week, I’d have said that a polygamy prosecution against the leaders of the fundamentalist Mormon community in Bountiful, B.C., had two chances: slim and none. On Wednesday night, the B.C. government — or, rather, an independent special prosecutor — finally took the step that has been dithered over for years and charged Winston Blackmore and James Oler under section 293 of the Criminal Code. After giving myself a quick refresher on the legal arguments, I’m no longer so sure about “slim.”

One might wonder why B.C. Attorney-General Wally Oppal refused to refer section 293 to the B.C. Court of Appeal for review before allowing the prosecution to proceed. At this late date, I trust no one is going to argue that such a manoeuvre would have been a waste of valuable time.

[Loyalist]

Wally Oppal knows the B.C. Court of Appeal better than anyone in Canada: he sat on it before resigning to run for the B.C. legislature.

It is very rare that a sitting judge in Canada resigns to run for elected office. They quit to return to the bar, or take another government appointment, but it's considered somewhat uncouth to quit to become a politician.

The reverse is true, however, for politicians, who are only too happy to be appointed to the Bench.

The deck is being stacked for polygamy, and everyone knows it.

[Edward Watson]

And in other news, polygamist Muslims in Canada are allowed to receive welfare for their multiple wives without a peep of prosecution.

[maryz]

polygamist Muslims in Canada are allowed to receive welfare for their multiple wives

Might be a case for Sharia law -- IIRC, the Muslim rule is that a man may have up to four wives if he can support them and their children! ;-)

[kalee]

He will claim he is supporting them, after all he did the hard “work” of filing the paperwork to get the welfare. ;)

[Dilbert San Diego]

This is very predictable to see movement to legalizing polygamy. The gay activists laugh and marginalize anyone who ties gay marriage to other changes in marriage, but, if it’s discriminatory to limit marriage to opposite sex couples, then it’s also discriminatory to limit marriage to only two people.

If we ever institutionalize same-sex marriage in America, legalized polygamy and group marriage are next. Canada is ahead of us on this since they have nationwide homosexual marriage already. Whether their being ahead of us, being a good thing that they legalized homosexual marriage, is another story.

[grey_whiskers]

Four wives = (usually) four mothers-in-law.

Unless you marry sisters, in which case you've got a whole different set of problems.

Cheers!

[MahatmaGandu]

The deck is being stacked for polygamy

I agree. And the deck started being stacked when divorce become easy, then it got stacked some more when contraception was legalized, a couple more cards were tossed on when abortion was legalized, and then the cards were REALLY stacked when gay marriage was legalized under the argument that the state has no right to dictate who can marry.

And now in Canada, and soon in the USA, polygamists will be able to legally marry. Which is as it should be if we're willing to accept that limiting marriage to just one man and one woman is unnacceptable.

Our choice then is to undo the past fifty years of social "progress".

Any takers?