“And where are we going,” as my colleague has said.
It is good to see that we have resolved all the problems in this nation and now we are ready to create some new ones. That is the way this group is thinking. This kind of convoluted thinking, that benefits should be entrusted or entitled to an individual based on a sexual relationship, could only make sense to politicians because it does not make sense to anybody else. I should clarify for these fellows over here that it is not all politicians and not everybody on the government side who agree with this.
Common law partners are not required to register anywhere in order to claim benefits, nor are there provisions for information sharing between departments. Thus, couples could apply for conjugal benefits under one piece of legislation while maintaining that they were simply roommates or friends for another piece of legislation, which might impose some obligations.
I will go back to my four young friends who could say “Yes, this is conjugal if there are benefits here for us”, but if it were another piece of legislation, they could say “No, we are just roommates. There is no sex here”.
I defy anybody from the other side to stand up and say that this legislation is good, that it will stand the test of time, that it is defined, that it will not cause much confusion and that it will not cost a lot of money. If members do stand up they will only do it because they were told to do it. What members on the other side need to do is to stand up and say “We have to look at this further. It is flawed and has serious problems. I do so because the people of my riding expect that of me”. That is what we expect of them.
This legislation is flawed and it must be defeated. I ask members on the other side to thoroughly consider this advice and do what is good for the country, not what is good for their party.