Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to speak in support of the amendments put forward by the member for Burnaby—Douglas.
I am proud to be from the riding of Vancouver East. I have had a lot of phone calls, e-mails and correspondence from gays, lesbians and straight people, constituents who have been in favour of Bill C-23. They saw it as a positive, progressive and long overdue move by the government to recognize equality for gays and lesbians in terms of modernization of benefits and so on.
Given the events of the last week or so, it has been a shock to see how the government at the 11th hour has begun to renege on the original intent and spirit of Bill C-23. It is caving in to what I think is clearly a minority viewpoint coming from the Reform Party and some people in the community. It is very disappointing to see the government cave in at the very end and in effect undermine the fundamental value and point of Bill C-23.
I wholeheartedly support the amendments that were put forward by the member for Burnaby—Douglas. Those amendments are our attempt to put this bill back on track and to say to the government that there was a clear intent with Bill C-23. That is what we should keep in mind here. We should not be sidelined and sidetracked by all of these other political debates.
In listening to the debate today I have been truly dismayed and shocked by some of the comments that have been made by members of the Reform Party.