Madam Speaker, the House of Commons deals with very many important issues that are fundamental to the lives of every citizen in Canada. There is no issue more important than the very basis of our society, our family and our family units. Any society in the world is no stronger than its smallest unit. Unfortunately legislation frequently chips away at the ability of Canadians to organize themselves in a way to enhance their family unit.
Bill C-23, an act to modernize the Statutes of Canada in relation to benefits and obligations, would amend 68 federal laws, affecting key departments and agencies. The bill creates a new term called common law partner, defined as a person cohabiting with another person of either sex in a conjugal relationship for a year. Probably the most massive flaw with this legislation is that the word conjugal is undefined.
The government wants us to believe that this bill merely gives same sex couples the same federal benefits as heterosexual couples. Mainstream news media parrot the same line. The definitions of spouse and marriage have been under aggressive attack for many years. The courts have asked politicians, elected by Canadians, to express the opinions of Canadians in law. In 1995, one member of the Supreme Court Canada, Mr. Justice La Forest, said:
The heterosexual relationship is firmly anchored in the biological and social realities that heterosexual couples have the unique ability to procreate. Most children are the products of these relationships, and they are generally cared for and nurtured by those who live in that relationship. In this sense, marriage is by nature heterosexual. It would be possible to legally define marriage to include homosexual couples, but this would not change the biological and social realities that underline the traditional marriage.
In June 1998, in the wake of court actions chipping away at the definition of marriage, members of parliament voted 216 to 55 in support of a motion which stated that “marriage is and should remain the union of a man and one woman to the exclusion of all others and that parliament will take all necessary steps to preserve this definition of marriage in Canada”. Bill C-23 violates both the letter and the spirit of that motion, in spite of the fact that it was passed overwhelmingly by members of parliament.
The justice minister stated during the debate: “We on this side of the House of Commons agree that the institution of marriage is a central and important institution in the lives of many Canadians. Indeed, worldwide it plays an important part in all society, second only to the fundamental importance of family”.
As noted by the justice minister, every society in the world, whether based on religious or non-religious standards, holds the uniqueness of the heterosexual relationship and the family unit in a unique and special position. There are social benefits extended by every nation relating to the traditional family unit.
Going into the 21st century it must be recognized that there are many single parent families, sometimes based on choice, sometimes based on uncontrolled events. This is why Canadian society had decided, along with the rest of the world's nations, to extend special benefits to people in relationships that are similar to heterosexual traditional family units. Rightfully, those benefits are extended to single parents along with family units related by blood, marriage and adoption.
The justice minister has stated that she is proceeding with the legislation because the courts made her do it. Yet in 1995 Justice Gonthier said:
The courts must therefore be wary of second-guessing legislative social policy choices relating to the status, rights and obligations of marriage, a basic institution of our society and intimately related to its fundamental values.
The supreme court has not demanded or even hinted that it wants this widespread, sweeping power which eliminates the special status for heterosexual couples in marriage.
In the last eight years there has been an amazing erosion of legislative support for traditional marriage, and this in spite of the fact that there is overwhelming evidence showing the benefits of traditional marriage to children, adults and society. The government has eliminated any incentive under family law to marry. The erosion has been led by certain politicians.
For example, in 1994, when the member for Mississauga West was a provincial MPP in Ontario, he said this about similar Ontario legislation:
Some of us who are opposed to this bill find it difficult to accept the lecturing that seems to go that if you are opposed to the bill you are somehow opposed to democracy. I have just had it up to here with being called a racist or a bigot because I cannot accept the fact that the spouse is a member of the same sex. That is my right, indeed my responsibility. I have an obligation on the part of the people I represent and on the part of my family, from (the) heart, (to) speak my mind on this issue. I reject any attempt to try and muzzle people or try to intimidate us to try and paint this as some kind of human rights issue.
In a spectacular flip-flop the hon. member for Mississauga West this month stood in his place and made what amounted to a full retreat, wherein he labelled myself and other members of the Reform Party as he had been labelled six years ago. He attacks us in the way he had been attacked. What monumental hypocrisy.
The Liberal House leader, who is ramming this legislation through the House today, in 1994 said:
I object to any suggestion that would have homosexual couples treated the same way as heterosexual couples. Although I will fight against any form of discrimination whether it is on the basis of race, sex, religion or other, I do not believe homosexuals should be treated as families.
This was the government House leader speaking six years ago. He continued:
My wife Maryanne and I do not claim we are homosexual. Why should homosexuals pretend they form a family?
Five and a half years later, as House leader, he is the enforcer of the Prime Minister's iron fist to all Liberal backbenchers that they support this motion.
Specifically to the case of benefits, when the current health minister was Minister of Justice in 1996 he said:
—that in the year since March 1994 the Supreme Court of Canada decided the case of Egan and Nesbit. It decided that notwithstanding that sexual orientation is a ground within section 15 of the charter on which discrimination is prohibited, the benefits do not automatically flow; so much for logic and that is the law.
Four years ago the Liberal Government of Canada clearly stated that it did not support an extension to same sex partners of pension benefits and other benefits, yet here we are today with the government speeding legislation through the House of Commons which will do exactly that.
The protection of the traditional family unit is so important to our society that the definition of marriage must be protected by legislation. The spectacular flip-flops of Liberal cabinet ministers and backbenchers now that they are in power cries out for consistent legislation and specific direction for our courts.
This is fundamental to the lives of every citizen in Canada. In spite of the feel good, fuzzy reasoning by Liberal backbenchers today, the effect of this bill is to depreciate the unique value and special meaning of marriage in Canada. Any society in the world is no stronger than its smallest unit, the family. Bill C-23 not only undercuts marriage and the family, it is just plain bad law.