Madam Speaker, I will be introducing a bill in the House in September that will give parliamentarians an opportunity to debate recognition of same sex spouses.
I hope that the Board of Internal Economy, the Reform Party, the government and all parties represented in the House will make this bill votable, because I will accept the result.
My colleague is right in saying that this debate should be held in the House. We must vote on an important matter such as this. I will exercise all the democratic latitude that there must be between parliamentarians in trying to persuade my Reform Party colleague that it is discriminatory not to recognize same sex spouses, and I remain optimistic that they will vote in favour of my bill.