Madam Speaker, first of all let us look at this question logically.
There are heterosexual common law partners who have lived together for many years in a deeply committed loving relationship. Is the hon. member for Calgary Centre and the Reform Party seriously suggesting that if for whatever reason that couple does not still have a sexual relationship that somehow that relationship is not a genuine common law relationship? That is absolutely ludicrous.
In fact the Supreme Court of Canada and the Ontario Court of Appeal have talked about what is involved in a conjugal relationship and what are the generally acceptable characteristics of a conjugal relationship. This is from Justice Cory in M. v H. They include shared shelter, sexual and personal behaviour, services, social activities, economic support and children, as well as the societal perception of the couple. However, these elements may be present in varying degrees and not all are necessary for the relationship to be found to be conjugal.
The court said:
Certainly an opposite sex couple may, after many years together, be considered to be in a conjugal relationship although they have neither children nor sexual relations. Obviously the weight to be accorded the various elements or factors to be considered in determining whether an opposite sex couple is in a conjugal relationship will vary widely and almost infinitely. The same must hold true of same sex couples. Courts have wisely determined that the approach to determining whether a relationship is conjugal must be flexible....There is nothing to suggest that same sex couples do not meet the legal definition of conjugal.
That is what the courts have ruled. Frankly it is disingenuous of the member for Calgary Centre to suddenly raise these concerns about how we can establish the legitimacy of conjugal relationships and common law relationships when Reform did not ask one question when it was just about common law heterosexual relationships.
They were not asking at that point how to prove they had a sexual relationship or how to prove they were really living together in an intimate relationship. They did not care about that then. They certainly did not raise questions then about other dependent relationships when they extended this to common law relationships.
What Reformers really care about is that we are actually recognizing that the relationships of gay and lesbian people should be treated with equality, dignity and respect. That is what Reformers do not believe in because not one of them voted for equality even in the Canadian Human Rights Act.