Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend the member for Hochelaga—Maisonneuve for his courage in continuing to fight for the rights of all Canadians.
I believe in family values. I believe that every member of this House and in fact all Canadians believe in family values. We do not recognize necessarily that family values have to be a euphemism for a discriminatory policy against any member of society. In fact if we actually believe in family values we should be defending and recognizing the importance of the family for all members of society and we should be encouraging all members of society to live in supportive relationships. I believe that is the intention of the hon. member in bringing forward this thought-provoking and important legislation, to encourage all Canadians to live in supportive, long term relationships. Society would benefit from that kind of change.
There are those who would argue that the extension of rights to one group will somehow diminish the rights of another. There is absolutely no historical precedent to that effect. In fact there are historical precedents to the opposite effect, that when we deny the rights to any group within society we threaten and jeopardize the rights of all.
I would suggest that the populism brought forward by the Reform Party is sometimes very dangerous. The civil rights movement in the 1960s in the U.S. would never have moved forward if we were relying on public opinion polls and populism.
Parliament and the Government of Canada should lead. The courts have been fairly consistent in their interpretation of the charter of rights. Governments need to lead. We should not be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
Every member of this House should ask themselves the question periodically: Are we merely politicians or are we political leaders? Political leaders need to lead.
I would hope that the government sees fit to debate this issue. It should bring the issue forward and debate it in the House of Commons so that we can have a constructive debate about something that is going to be very important as we enter the 21st century.
I would like to quote in closing the Liberal member for Lac-Saint-Louis who said “rights are rights are rights”.