Mr. Speaker, what does Bill C-23 do? Bill C-23 gives every benefit previously reserved for married couples to any two people, opposite or same sex, who live together for one year in a conjugal relationship.
The bill does not define conjugal relationship anywhere, so it leaves that wide open. I will not focus on that too much today but it is one of our concerns.
I want to go on to point out that the bill came into being by the Department of Justice bureaucrats who worked on the bill. They informed us that they searched all the federal statutes for the terms “marriage” and/or “spouse” and inserted a new definition for the term “common law partner” so that two people of the same sex would be considered the same as married as far as public policy goes.
I did ask the justice minister in committee if there was any difference in the treatment of married and same sex couples in Bill C-23. She did mention one, that married couples still have to get divorced. I do not know what people in same sex relationships do. Perhaps they walk out the door when it is over. It is not clear from the bill.
Bill C-23 also redefined in statute “related persons” in clause 9. It redefined family in clause 134. It redefined it from those connected by blood, marriage or adoption to a new definition which includes two people of the same gender in a same sex or homosexual lifestyle.
Public pressure against the bill has been enormous. Some members of all parties have received more e-mails, faxes, letters and phone calls on this issue than on any other issue this session. People from coast to coast overwhelmingly do not want the bill to go ahead. Petitions against the bill are coming into my office at a rate of almost 1,000 signatures a day.
It is also ironic that 10 short months ago the Liberal government voted in support of a Canadian Alliance motion to ensure that parliament “take all necessary steps to preserve the definition of marriage as a union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others”. Now the Liberals have brought forward Bill C-23 as their first priority, which gives every marriage and family benefit to two people of the same gender in something called a conjugal relationship.
With Bill C-23 the Liberals have removed any unique public policy recognition of the institution of marriage and have set the stage for the courts to endorse homosexual marriage in Canada. It is no wonder that the people of Canada are reacting. The Liberals said they would strengthen the definition of marriage in law and that they would make it their first priority. They said that but they have done just the opposite.
Because of the high public pressure the justice minister was under, she fought her bureaucrats and had an amendment included at the very beginning of the bill, right after the title, that is meant to reassure Canadians that the bill will not affect the meaning of the word “marriage”. Do not be deceived. The justice minister's amendment will not appear in a single one of the 68 statutes that Bill C-23 is changing. It will not appear in Canadian law.
After reviewing the wording of the justice minister's amendment in clause 1.1 of Bill C-23 and the location of it in the bill, a legal analysis was done by David M. Brown, an experienced charter lawyer from one of the largest legal firms in Canada. In the lengthy analysis, the leading Canadian text on statutory interpretation, Driedger on the Construction of Statutes , was extensively referred to. Some previous case law was also considered.
The conclusion of this professional, legal analysis from a prestigious and respected law firm in Toronto was as follows:
[The justice minister's amendment] is not an enacting provision of the bill; it does not operate to amend any of the particular acts referred to in the bill by including a definition of the word “marriage”. Passage of a version of Bill C-23 which includes [the minister's amendment] will not result, as a matter of law, in any of the specific bills containing a definition of “marriage”.
Parliament took a position 10 months ago in support of a motion by the Canadian Alliance to take all necessary steps to secure the definition of marriage in law. That is why we have moved amendments to each of the 68 statutes to include a definition of marriage and spouse in each of the statutes. By including an enacting definition in the laws of Canada it would, in the words of expert legal opinion, make a difference that would mean that if the bill was amended to enact a definition of marriage for each of the particular acts referred to in the bill, then parliament would be giving a clear indication of its intentions to the courts and the public at large.
That is what parliament resoundingly said it would do in June 1999. That is what the public wants us to do. For goodness' sake, why is the Liberal government not doing it?
Bill C-23 repeatedly places in statute the definition of common law partner to include those involved in a homosexual lifestyle. If these definitions can be repeated throughout the statutes, is it not reasonable to have a marriage definition also defined in the statutes? That is exactly what our amendments call for.
If the purpose of the justice minister's amendment is to give “greater certainty” that marriage is a lawful union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others, why leave it outside the affected statutes and laws? Why not make it certain and support the Canadian Alliance amendments that put the definition of marriage in the statutes of Canada?
The Liberals' approach of leaving marriage outside of the same sex benefits bill is misleading. It does not really achieve anything. It is misleading because it gives the impression that the one man and one woman definition of marriage has been secured when in fact it has not been, not by parliament.
I will quote again from this leading legal expert:
If parliament intends to state that, as a matter of federal law, “marriage” is the “lawful union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others”, then in my opinion, [the minister's amendment] does not achieve that objective. As previously stated, [the minister's amendment] is not an enacting section; it will not bring into force any legally binding definition of “marriage”.
By contrast, if the bill was amended to enact a definition of marriage for each of the particular acts referred to in the bill, then parliament would be giving a clear indication of its intentions to whom? To the courts and to the public at large. The public have been making us very aware that they are concerned about this issue.
Marriage means something to Canadians and that is why we have brought this forward. Canadians know that marriage is good for kids. It works for families. Government policy should serve to strengthen it instead of undermining it like Bill C-23 does. To my hon. colleagues in the House who supported a motion that they voted for in June 1999 to secure and strengthen the definition of marriage, do not vote against marriage now. Support the Canadian Alliance amendments that state clearly in law what marriage is and in fact should remain.
In committee the justice minister told us that initially this bill had nothing to do with marriage, but it is clear from her amendment that it does affect marriage. It gives every single benefit that is currently available for married couples and families to people of the same gender in what is called a conjugal relationship. That is the second part of our concern about the bill. Nowhere in the bill does the government define who qualifies. It simply says a conjugal relationship.
People are wondering if this bill goes ahead whether or not they are able to participate in what the bill offers. It is irresponsible for the House to pass legislation that is unclear and defers to the courts to make assessments as to who and who does not qualify.
We have asked repeatedly is private physical intimacy between two adults contingent upon qualifying for these benefits? A conjugal relationship implies that. The term implies that there must be some sort of marriage-like sexual activity going on between two people. That is what the dictionary says. We have asked whether that is part of what Bill C-23 requires. We cannot get an answer. This is unclear. It is the second problem we have with the bill.
I appeal to members opposite to support the amendments that make it clear in law for all Canadians that marriage will remain the union of one man and one woman regardless of what may come down from the courts and respect the will of the Canadian people.