Mr. Speaker, I think we are talking about two separate issues. What we are talking about is if an organization of whatever sort wants to hold a meeting and say that it declares the following, it can do whatever it likes. There is nothing to stop anyone from doing whatever they like. What we are talking about is the definition of marriage under federal statute. That is our job. Churches will do as they will. They have meetings, their own constitutions and they will decide internally about their own policies and what they will do and who stands in the pulpit, who gives an oration and that is their business.
I would encourage people to vote for the current definition and work toward an understanding in a compassionate way to deal with other relationships. As the member for Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca said, we must find another way to deal with other relationships that are important, that are part of a changing and evolving society but not to attack the institution of marriage in order to do it. It does not help anyone's case to say that he or she must have something that was started in the misty past of the dawn of history in legislation or else it is not fair. That is not true. It is an evolving society. We must have evolving institutions but that does not mean we have to redefine marriage in order to do it.