Madam Speaker, I will be splitting my time with my colleague from Kelowna. I begin my debate on Bill C-23 today by reflecting on the comments and arguments which were made during the first day of debate last week.
I clearly indicate from the outset that I do not support the legislation. The official opposition is the only party opposing this fatally flawed piece of legislation. I will outline the reasons why I cannot support Bill C-23, and I will begin with an examination of some comments made by the Minister of Justice last week.
As my colleague from Kelowna just mentioned, debate on this important issue has a wide range of implications. It is being shut down today through time allocation, a process that has been used over and over again by the Liberal government. I cannot understand why it would do that on such an important piece of legislation.
Last week on February 15 the Minister of Justice stated that the bill ensured respect for the principle of equal treatment before the law of persons living in recognized stable relationships. Let us be very clear that the minister's bill defines a stable relationship as one that is one year in length. She went on to state that fairness, tolerance, respect and equality were touchstones of our national identity. The minister will get no argument on this point. This has been echoed by members on both sides of the House, both those for and those against the bill.
The minister went on to say that they recognize marriage is a fundamental value and important to Canadians, and that the value and importance are in no way undermined by recognizing in law other forms of committed relationships. I categorically say that assertion is false.
Let me outline the strongest argument I think possible for rejecting Bill C-23, one which I believe cannot be refuted by means of recent argument or logical consistency. The bill defines the new term common law partnership as a stable relationship of at least one year between two committed individuals, whether it be a same sex relationship between two men or two women or an opposite sex relationship between a man and a woman. I do not believe anyone would argue that is what Bill C-23 does and that the bill bestows benefits and requires obligations for those who enter into same sex relationships. For purposes of this illustration let us call this arrangement example C.
We know that in the eyes of the common law a union between a man and a woman in a ceremony before witnesses sanctioned by the state is called a marriage. Let us call this arrangement example A.
We also know that in the eyes of the law a man and a woman who choose to live together for at least one year, even though they have not participated in any ceremony before witnesses, are deemed to be in a common law relationship or marriage. The same benefits are accessible and the same obligations are in effect for those who are living in such an arrangement. Let us call this common law opposite sex relationship example B.
Logically if A equals B and B equals C, then A equals C. If the law sees marriage, and it does, as equivalent to a common law opposite sex relationship and sees a common law opposite sex relationship as equivalent to common law same sex relationships, and it does in this proposed piece of legislation, in effect the law if passed, Bill C-23, will see marriage as equivalent to common law same sex relationships or as stated in the bill in terms of a common law partnership.
For the minister to state that the bill does not affect marriage is completely false and illogical in any form of reasoning. The minister may believe this to be true. She may make assertions to the contrary, but by means of logic we have just demonstrated that it is not true.
The end result of the bill is to enshrine in law that two homosexual partners who live together for just one year will be afforded the same benefits and obligations as a married couple, a couple who have commitments to live together and love each other through sickness and health until death do them part, a commitment which is fundamental to the continuation and well-being of any society, the building block of society where children learn about right and wrong, good and bad, how to treat others, and how to be positive functioning members of society. For the minister to claim otherwise is simply false.
Why should Canadians trust the Liberal government to protect marriage? The justice minister is unwilling to enshrine in federal statute the definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman as recognized by the state.
A motion was passed in the House in June 1999 that was brought forward by my colleagues in the Reform Party and agreed upon by the majority of members in the House including Liberals. They in no way can take credit for such action. It is because of the Liberal inaction on this question and their unwillingness to define in statute the definition of marriage that we brought the motion forward.
The minister says she values marriage but she is unwilling to speak with her actions instead of her hollow words. This point was made by the Liberal member for Scarborough East, a member of the government and one of only a handful who was willing to stand and say something contrary to the will of the Liberal Party. I will quote from Hansard what that member of the government said in regard to the bill:
The bill is fairly simple. It really could be written in one line: common law heterosexual relationships are the legal equivalent to common law homosexual relationships. Therein lies the entire issue.
I am quoting the member for Scarborough East, a member of the government, who also said:
The bill turns common law homosexual relationships into the legal equivalent of common law heterosexual relationships, which for many purposes is equivalent to marriage.
That was a member of the Liberal Government of Canada who I guess is in direct contradiction to the majority of his group in the governing party.
Let Canadians make no mistake about the net end effect of Bill C-23 and its implications. Anybody with concerns about the issue who is listening today should voice their concerns to their local member of parliament, to the Minister of Justice and to the Prime Minister to tell them what he or she feels is the right way to proceed in this area of public policy.
Basically the Liberal government is signalling that it believes in sexual egalitarianism, the belief that there are no arrangements that are to the benefit of any others in the country in terms of private sexual activity. The government is signalling to Canadians that it no longer values the direction of a social policy which encourages and nurtures family and marriage as the building block of this society.
Let us make no mistake about it. That is what the bill does. It signals to Canadians that the governing group, the Liberal Party of Canada, is setting off in a direction and it has not even consulted Canadians on this very important issue that is the building block of any society. That is patently wrong.
The minister and other colleagues have put forward an argument, which we heard not long ago from the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice, that the courts made the government do it so it must be right. They say that other jurisdictions are putting this into legislation so we must follow. Again this is a false assertion.
This is the highest court in the land. We as parliamentarians are charged with the responsibility of sending a message to the courts. It is not the other way around. It is here that we must take the stands from our constituents and bring them to this place and argue and debate by logical reasoning which is the best way to go. Here in this place.
Let us clearly point out that the Liberal government is unwilling by its actions to enshrine in law the definition of marriage. It has a perfect opportunity right now with Bill C-23, yet it has not done that. We must take from its actions as it is legislating that this is a path it does not want to pursue. The government does not want to enshrine the definition of marriage in law for whatever reasons it might have. We need to hold and Canadians need to hold this Liberal group accountable for that particular action. The Liberals over and over again have derogated their responsibility to the courts.
I see I am quickly running out of time on this important subject. I will end my speech by encouraging Canadians to look at what this legislation does. The parliamentary secretary, the Minister of Justice and other members of the Liberal Party have stood in this place and said “Don't worry. This bill has no net effect on the definition of marriage”.
As I pointed out earlier in my speech, because they are unwilling to enshrine in law what marriage means, and they are equating marriage to be the same as a common law relationship and now a common law partnership, they are in effect signalling to Canadians that they no longer support the family. They no longer support with their social policy the longstanding tradition of this country and the building block of this society. That is a shame and they need to be held accountable.