By Stephen Gray
The politicians are to have a so-called “free vote” on the “same-sex marriage” issue in the fall of 2006. On June 8, 1999, politicians voted in parliament to “preserve the definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman.” It passed by 216 to 55 against, and commonsense, decency, sanity and truth prevailed.
Then in June 2005, parliament voted by 158 to 133 in support of so-called “same-sex marriage.” Did some of them make liars of themselves? For in 1999, some of them voted for traditional marriage. Which poses the question: Why would any thinking people trust them again on this issue? Most of them now bend and break like rotten branches blowing in the wind when the nonsense of “same-sex marriage” is raised and they now support it. Therefore, I believe this matter is much too important to be left to untrustworthy politicians. In fact, some politicians who were against “gay marriage” are now wavering and others cannot be trusted to do the honorable and decent thing and come out against this perversion of justice, law and politics.
The Globe and Mail of June 3, 2006, had this to say: “Several Conservatives, most recently Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn, who originally said no to same-sex unions, now say they would not vote to reopen the issue, arguing that Canada has moved on.”
And Liberal MP, Keith Martin, who was a former Tory MP (it’s getting harder and harder to keep track of these guys and their politics) was quoted in a Canadian press story on the “same-sex marriage debate” which said: “Liberal MP Keith Martin said the country has more important things to deal with and Harper should get on with them.”
"The prime minister has to get over it," Martin said in Ottawa. "This issue is dead. It's over. The provinces, the courts and Parliament have decided the [sic] same-sex marriage is the law of the land." [1]
Note: Keith Martin voted in favour of the traditional definition of marriage in 1999 in Parliament.
Parliament sensibly decided in 1999 that marriage could only be between a man and a woman. But then the House of No Shame, sometimes called Parliament “decided” in 2005 that people of the same gender could marry each other. So I ask the question again: Can we trust the politicians in this Parliament? Some of them have betrayed the people who voted for them by crossing the floor. So double crossing comes easy to some politicians.
Another politician who crossed the floor from the Liberal party to the Conservative party, David Emerson, had this to say on the “same-sex marriage” issue: "Candidly, I'm not excited about reopening the issue," Emerson said. "Even in the last election, when I ran as a Liberal, it was not a big issue that I was confronted with at the doorstep." [2]
In summing up, one can see, based on the evidence of the original vote in Parliament in favour of traditional marriage, that many of these politicians do not have the courage of their convictions. They can change their vote as easy as some of them change parties. So I ask once again, can any of them be trusted? I believe the only hope is the use of the notwithstanding clause by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to protect “the rule of law.”
“We are the product of our values, a country that cherishes freedom, democracy, and the rule of law.”[3] Prime Minister, Stephen Harper
The above words by P.M. Harper sound good. But are they true? Since when did this aberration called “same-sex marriage” have “values?” If we cherished “freedom” the people would be allowed to vote by referendum on whether they accept this lie of so-called “same-sex marriage.” If we cherished “democracy” non-elected judges would not be allowed to “read in” words not written in the Charter. And finally if we cherished the “rule of law” this nonsense called “same-sex marriage” would never have been made into “law.” I believe the not-withstanding clause is appropriate in this matter.
“In sum, using the section 33 Notwithstanding power is a perfectly legitimate response to the courts’ usurpation of the legislative responsibility to make laws—in this case, the law of marriage. This is especially true for homosexual marriage, as the courts have added new meaning to the Charter that was explicitly rejected when the Charter was being written….Critics of section 33 say that we cannot trust politicians to act as a check on the courts. Fine, if that’s the case, give the decision to the people. Legitimize the use of the notwithstanding clause by democratizing it. It [sic] we cannot trust politicians, surely we can trust the Canadian people.” [4]
The people must be allowed to speak based on the evidence of subversion of the Charter by non-elected judges, or Prime Minister Harper should do the honorable thing and invoke the not-withstanding clause.
This is what he could say: This distortion and invention of words called “same-sex marriage" was never in the Charter. It was imposed by non-elected lawyers that we now call judges. Therefore I am going to use the not-withstanding clause to return sanity, truth and decency to this country for the sake of our children. But unfortunately he is dedicated to holding this so-called “free vote” on a lie and is on record as saying he would “never” use it on this issue.
The Prime Minister, by even holding a “free vote” on this lie, is giving credibility to judge-imposed nonsense and political charlatans who concocted a “law” on this matter. Surely, he must know that this issue was NEVER in the Charter. Decency, truth and justice demands that he should invoke the not-withstanding clause. If he won’t do that, then let the people decide by referendum. For I do not believe, based on the earlier evidence of their actions, that politicians can be trusted to revoke this lie called “same-sex marriage.”
Stephen Gray
July 5, 2006.
graysinfo@yahoo.ca website: http://www.oocities.org/graysinfo
Endnotes:
1 http://www.recorder.ca/cp/National/060602/n060253A.html
2 http://www.recorder.ca/cp/National/060531/n053177A.html
3 http://www.recorder.ca/cp/National/060701/n070123A.html
4 F.L. (Ted) Morton National Post, A14, Sept. 4, 2003)
http://www.marriageinstitute.ca/pages/morton.htm