Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to address the House today, in particular with respect to the amendment which I have proposed, Motion No. 5.
However, I begin my remarks by noting in passing that the hon. member who spoke just before me began his remarks by trying to say that this bill has nothing to do with marriage, and then spent the next nine minutes of his speech telling the House why gays and lesbians should be able to marry. Clearly this bill has something to do with marriage. That of course is why people were concerned about the institution of marriage as they had always known it. That is why numerous witnesses appeared before the justice committee to express their concerns. That is why thousands of people have contacted their members of parliament to express their concerns.
What has the government done in response to that? It has addressed the concerns of the people who have contacted the House of Commons. It has done so, I would say, a bit late, but better late than never.
What has the government done? It has not done anything radical. It has not done anything unusual. It has simply restated what most people in this country know to be the definition of marriage. It has restated it in clause 1.1 of the bill, which is worth referring to. It reads:
For greater certainty, the amendments made by this Act do not affect the meaning of the word “marriage”, that is, the lawful union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.
That is exactly what marriage is and that is what I would argue marriage should remain. I believe I speak for the vast majority of my constituents when I make that statement.
My amendment is a very specific amendment. It states that wherever the word “marriage” appears in Bill C-23, immediately after that word the definition of marriage should be placed in parenthesis, namely, “the lawful union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others”.
Why have I brought this amendment in view of clause 1.1 moved by the government in committee? I guess we are talking technicalities. This is the way I view it. Bill C-23 is an omnibus bill. The sole purpose of the bill is to amend 68 statutes of the Government of Canada.
Once Bill C-23 becomes law, as I am certain it will, the 68 statutes that it seeks to amend will be amended. In effect, therefore, the function of Bill C-23 will have been completed. All of the parts of Bill C-23 deal with other acts. They command that those other acts be amended. Once Bill C-23 becomes law, all of the sections which command that other sections of other acts be changed will be changed.
In effect, Bill C-23 will have served its purpose and will be legally spent, except for clause 1.1, which will remain all by itself, in what I term a ghost law; a law with only one section, having completed its task. That ghost law will remain a law but will soon be forgotten. It will not be reproduced in the revised statutes of Canada. It will not be before parliamentarians on a daily basis. It will not be before adjudicators, administrators, functionaries, bureaucrats and, most importantly, it will not be before judges on a daily basis.
However, if we add the definition that is in clause 1.1 as a parenthetical definition after the word “marriage” wherever it appears in Bill C-23, then as Bill C-23 amends each of these acts that definition will be carried into each of those acts, so that judges, administrators and parliamentarians, when they are dealing with specific sections of a pension bill, the Income Tax Act, the Judges Act, the Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act, or whichever act it is of the 68 statutes involved, that definition would be front and centre before these people who are dealing with these acts on a daily basis. Otherwise, it would be out of sight, out of mind.
My amendment adds the exact words from clause 1.1 as a definition after the word marriage in each and every place where it appears in Bill C-23. It does nothing more.
I noticed the member who spoke before me used his familiar tactic, in that he attempted to demonize those who disagree with him. He used his usual pejorative words such as “dinosaurs” and “unholy alliance”. This is a favourite tactic of those who have no real argument; it is not to attack the argument but to attack the person making the argument.
I cannot say it any better than Hartley Steward who wrote a column in the Sun on Sunday, April 2. I would like to read his take on this kind of attempt to demonize those who disagree with the legitimization of same sex marriage:
The shame is threefold.
First, in this fashion, extremists steal from all Canadians the agenda of political campaigns and make impossible a thoughtful and useful discussion of a broad range of issues. In their mindless way they take from us the ability to address the issues, like health care, which need our attention.
Indeed, they make it impossible for us to enjoy the practice of democracy.
This is not an accident. It is by design. It is vital for them to make primary only issues on their agenda and to attach despicable motives to those who hold honest beliefs on the side opposite theirs. It is a victory for their side if they can demonize those who hold different views; if they can characterize them as bigots, tyrants and dangerous people.
Then they need not debate the issues. Listen to the juvenile chants and you will realize how futile it would be for them to engage in debate with people who can actually think in sentences and employ logic in their arguments.
Homosexuality and how a society can and should deal with it is a debatable issue. Homosexuality itself, its cause and effect, is still a debatable issue. It has been since the time of Socrates. It is not good enough, nor does it serve society well, to demonize anyone who asks a question or holds a contrary view.
But if you can demonize someone, convince the world he asks the question because he is an evil person, why the argument is won.
To chant, red-faced and hysterically, “anti-choice” at someone who is against abortion is again the tactic of those who care nothing for democracy, and would frustrate it in a moment to gain their ends.
That is what we see when people do not like to hear the kinds of comments for example that I am making. I allow that in a democracy everybody has the right to make the comments that they wish to make without having to be called names. It is ultimately up to the people of Canada in the House and through elections to decide what direction they want their country to take. Enough of this name calling. Let us just deal with the issues.
For my part, I advised the government that in my view the best way to have approached the protection of marriage as we have always known it was to amend the Marriage Act and the Interpretation Act. Unfortunately that advice was not followed. Rather we have this unfortunate way of introducing it as an afterthought in Bill C-23, but as I say, better late than never.
I ask the House to support my amendment which is that the definition of marriage be carried as a definition wherever marriage appears in Bill C-23. That definition is the common law of Canada. It is the position of the Government of Canada. It is the position of the House of Commons as decided on June 8, 1999. It is the position of Bill C-23. For those reasons, I ask that my amendment receive favourable support.